Tokyo-3 Arcana
by Lexarius
Summary: Shinji Ikari is a very different young man after coming back from inside the 12th Angel. Training and Magic have prepared him to continue the fight against the Angels; but Leliel opened the door to another dimension, and the Shadow starts to creep into Earth, bringing new dangers and new allies at Shinji s door. (Evangelion, Dungeons & Dragons, D20 Modern, and Pathfinder)
1. Familiar Ceiling - What Happened to You?

**_Tokyo-3 Arcana_**

* * *

 ** _Author's Notes_**

This story is the aftermath of _An Eva Pilot in Greyhawk_ , even if that story is only one chapter long at the time (please check it out, as otherwise this one might get a bit confusing).

I found that this little chapter just didn't kept quiet in the back of my mind (and drive). So I thought it might be better to release as it is now. At the moment, I have very vague plans of what to do both with Shinji in Greyhawk, beyond his training with the Justicar and Escalla and both his actual PC Class and magical equipment; and here, once he has returned, five years later (for him, for everybody else, he was away for less than a day). Both stories will be updated irregularily.

As the title implies, this story is a mix of Evangelion and the _Urban Arcana_ setting for D20 Modern. However, I didn't find the option in the list, so I put it in Dungeons & Dragons.

I also didn't want to let November end without another update, as work has been heavy lately; and I'm getting kinda tired in the evenings, when I usually write my ideas down and develop the actual scenes.

* * *

 **Chapter 1**  
 **A Familiar Ceiling / What Happened to You?**

* * *

"No, sorry. I don't know what happened… The last thing I remember is that I could barely breathe, and my head hurt; I think I must have fainted. And later I woke up in Misato's arms."

"Try to remember, Shinji." Dr. Akagi insisted once more," Somehow, while you were inside the Twelfth Angel, you suffered multiple lesions. You have lots of scars that seem like cuts, abrasions, and even burns. Plus several fractures in hands, arms, and ribs; even one on the head. Everything is perfectly healed. Plus, your whole muscular system is so well defined it looks like you have been training hard for at least several months."

 _'Try five years, Doc.'_ he thought, without showing anything but confusion and relief in his face.

"I'm s-sorry, Dr. Akagi. I don't know what happened inside the Angel." Shinji answered with both complete honesty and complete dishonesty. Five years travelling around the Flanaess with Escalla had taught him how to lie with sincerity; and after all, he really didn't know what had happened inside the Angel. All those wounds he had received? In fights _outside_ the Angel! So it was technically true; the best kind of true, according to the faerie.

And healing spells really did come handy… He just hoped he wouldn't have so much need of them back in his own... in his _original_ world. He actually felt so much more at home in Oerth, despite the abundance of evil people and monsters.

The chief of Project E sighed in frustration. "It's like a truck full of blades had run over you. But to heal from all that you would have been several months in a hospital, in a full body cast in intensive care. I can't understand."

Misato intervened. "Rits, leave that for later. Let him rest, for Kami's sake! We just recovered him from inside a freaking Angel! Plus, Commander Ikari wants you to check EVA-01, right now." Shinji perceived a current of barely disguised hostility in Misato's words. ' _Strange,_ ' he thought, ' _aren't they friends anymore? I couldn't have gone for too long.'_

"Uh… Right… Of course." Ritsuko raised her eyeglasses and pinched the bridge of her nose, unknowingly mimicking the Justicar's gesture when he felt particularly annoyed with Escalla's exploits. Or worse, Polk's unending diatribes!

Dr. Akagi sighed, she would have to sleep at her office. Again. "Okay, okay. We will have you in observation tonight and tomorrow morning. If nothing… if there's not another strange thing, you'll be released tomorrow noon, Shinji."

The boy furrowed his brow. That meant hospital food. Well, it was a small price to have come back safe and sound. And with a fair amount of experience under his belt. "Yes, Dr. Akagi. I understand."

Both women stood up to leave, Misato couldn't resist the impulse to tease her ward. The Major stopped at the threshold and blew him a goodbye kiss. She expected him to blush like a tomato, but to her surprise, the boy extended a hand, and pretended to catch the kiss!

"See you tomorrow, Misato." He smiled back at her.

 _'Well, progress at last!'_ Misato thought as she closed the door. Shinji caught a glimpse of two very familiar faces, one framed by a long mane of red hair, that quickly hid behind the door; and the other surrounded by short blue hair, completely serene.

Shinji smiled, "Come in, please."

A moment later, the door slid on its tracks. Rei Ayanami entered, pulling at Asuka Langley Soryu's wrist. The redheaded pilot put up a token resistance.

Rei tilted her head a little. "It's good to see you, Ikari."

"I'm glad to see you both, Ayanami."

Asuka pulled her hand from Rei's. "What kind of idiot are you? Who gets into their head to get swallowed by a stupid Angel?"

Her vehemence surprised Shini, _'Escalla was right! I owe her ten gold pieces.'_

He gathered his thoughts. "An impulsive one. Me. But in my own defense, I think no one expected that to happen, right?"

What Asuka didn't expect was that answer. She expected one of Shinji's timorous "S-sorry", that were Shinji's most annoying habit. She gaped for about five seconds, trying to process her surprise and give him a scathing answer.

He took the chance to keep talking. "I missed you, both of you. I had never been so alone. I thought I would die there."

"Ahem, well, yes." Asuka coughed teathrically on her fist, trying to recover the iniciative. "You are safe now, of course. Now, Third; tell us, what the hell happened in there, and how did you get EVA-01 to play Xenomorph with the Angel?"

"To play what?" Shinji raised an eyebrow, he never had heard such a word.

"Xenomorph? You know, _Alien_? Haven't you seen that movie? Not even on TV?"

"Uh, no. My sensei didn't let me watch any movies, nor TV. Only the news, sometimes."

Asuka raised her arms to the heavens. "That explains so many things about you it's not even funny!"

Rei kept silent, although the Second Child's antics were annoying, it felt good to see Ikari in a good mood after his ordeal. Almost without realizing, her lips formed a tiny, content smile.

Shinji didn't hesitate to answer. "I'd like to watch that movie with you, Asuka."

Asuka's mind blew a fuse. ' _Is the baka trying to..? No, it cannot be!'_ Her natural bluster came to the light. "Hah! I don't think you could manage to watch it all! With your delicate constitution, you'll either faint or flee to your room!"

"Challenge accepted." He smirked. "If I can watch the whole movie, what do I get?"

 _'Oh, no! No no no no no.'_ Asuka tried to think quickly. She pursed her lips into a thin line. Nope, nothing came to mind.

A mischievious spark appeared in Shinji's eyes. "You do the laundry for the next two weeks. No complaints."

"Uh..."

"Unless you're scared."

"Scared? Me? The Great Asuka Langle Soryu, scared? A Soryu never shies from a challenge! And if, I mean, _when_ , you lose?" She poked his chest with a finger. _'Funny… it's not as soft as last time… It actually feels like there's some muscle there, not just skin and bones…'_

"You get to pick the menu for the two weeks. And I'll even add the lunches you choose."

"Real food? No rice or miso soup?"

"Whatever you want." Shinji laced his hands behind his head. For Asuka, the very idea of Shinji Ikari showing any self-confidence was… very… strange. And distracting.

"Agreed!" Asuka turned to her colleague. "Wonder Girl, you are witness! I don't want this baka to try to back off our bet when he loses."

Rei nodded, somewhat amused.

"I'm leaving, I have to find a movie." Asuka almost ran out of the room, the door slid close behind her.

Shinji laced his fingers over his belly, and waited for a good twenty seconds. "She's so excited she forgot her question."

"Yes."

Shinji and Rei enjoyed a confortable silence. Neither had anything to say. Just their mutual company was enough for the time being.

* * *

Shinji knew perfectly well that Asuka smiled expectantly. One of the first things the Justicar had taught him was to be always aware of his surroundings. Her posture and breathing told him that in any moment, something would happen in the movie. He wasn't disappointed.

"That's disgusting!" he exclaimed, as the creature burst from the astronaut's chest, killing him, and his blood sprayed over his companions. Shinji didn't need to look directly at Asuka to know she was surprised. His peripheral vision was excellent.

 _'I saw worse in the Flanaess, and without any special effects!'_ he thought. Although grotesque, the movie was completely harmless. Still, Shinji was on the edge of his seat. Without looking, he took the pop-corn bowl from Asuka's hands, and began eating the snack.

Asuka was completely amazed. She was sure the Third Child would bolt during the scene when the second stage of the creature wrapped the head of the unfortunate astronaut like a mask.

* * *

Some time later, Shinji leaned back onto his seat, actually looking like he had had fun! "Hey! That was great! Do you have any more?"

An angry Asuka stood up like a spring, again poking Shinji's chest with a finger. "You cheated! You had seen it before!"

From her seat, Rei spoke. "Pilot Soryu, I watched Ikari just as you asked me to. His reactions don't seem to indicate any previous knowledge of the movie. I must conclude he hasn't cheated."

"Yeah, sure, get on his side, will'ya; Wonder Girl?" Asuka crossed her arms, with a magnificent sulk.

"No. I just did as you asked." Asuka gave her the stink-eye, putting her nose up in the air. Even for Asuka, that was very impressive pout.

"Hey, easy. Don't get angry." Shinji put his hand on Asuka's shoulder, just for a moment. "Are you going back on your word?"

"Okay!" She raised her hands to the heavens, annoyed at the outcome. "Never let it be said Asuka Langley Soryu doesn't honor her bets." And she stomed towards the laundry room.

"Wait, you don't have to do it right now. I got a new recipe for ice-cream, and I'd like your opinion. Both of yours."

"Ice-cream you said..?" Asuka's black mood lifted up in an instant.

"Sure, I prepared it as soon as I came back here. I bet it is ready by now. Just let me serve it."

* * *

Shinji expected a ferocious criticism of his ice-cream, but apparently, Asuka's kryptonite came in chocolate flavor. She practically purred in delight as the creamy concoction melted in her mouth.

What really was surprising was that Rei asked for a second serving.

* * *

Before going to sleep, Shinji tried to get comfortable on his bed. He just couldn't find the right posture. Finally, he gave up, and put a couple of blankets on the hard wooden floor. He had gotten used to sleep on the rough.

Face up, he looked at the ceiling of his little room. "It's almost an unfamiliar room again." He sighed. He almost heard the breathing of the friends he had left behind back on Oerth. Escalla's little chipmunk-like noises, Enid's soft purring, Polk's unending turning around, Cinder's attentive ears, always listening for any enemies or prey; Henry's soft hiss; and the disturbingly silent breathing of the Justicar. Even the occasional rattle of Morag's scales.

For a moment, he was tempted to put on his SDAT, but he discarded the idea immediately, he didn't want to dull his senses. They had gotten so sharp with the training that he could recognize his friends in complete darkness, just from the noise of their breathing.

At the other side of the wall, he heard Misato's roaring snores, and Asuka's turning around. He thought she and Polk had that in common.

He rubbed his left thumb against the other fingers. The callouses he had formed with almost ten years of cello practice had disappeared long ago. It would take a while to build them up again.

And surely, his technique had rusted a lot.

Well… there was only one way to remedy that.

Lot's of practice.

Meanwhile, he hoped his next synch test would come soon. He wanted to speak again with his mother, and recover the little souvenir he had brought from his adventures.

And all it contained.

* * *

At the other side of the city, in some abandoned subway tunnel, a dark fog invaded the place. It dissipated after a few minutes, leaving a small creature behind. It looked around, and mumbled something.


	2. Back in the Plug - First Lesson

_**Tokyo-3 Arcana  
Chapter 2  
Back in the Plug / First Lesson**_

* * *

 _ **Please Read and Review.**_ _I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it)._

* * *

'So, first things first.' Shinji thought.

"Ready and set, Dr. Akagi." He said, while passing his fingers over the control yoke of EVA-01, more to reassure himself that his little souvenir still was in place than out of any sentimentality for the bio-mech he was in control of.

"Very well, Shinji. We are starting the activation in 30 seconds. Tell me if you feel anything strange with the interface." The dyied blond answered.

The voices of Lt. Ibuki and Lt. Aoba relayed the abstruse techno-babble needed for the activation of the terrifying war machine.

Shinji used that time to clear his mind, and run through the Mind-clearing exercises he had learned in his time on Oerth. His senses sharpened immediately. He could taste EVA-01's eagerness to be free, to act of its own volition.

EVA-01's mind was like a raging storm, only restrained by an unholy fusion of technology and a human soul.

He should know.

He and Morag had spent several uncomfortable days speaking with UNIT-01's 'soul'.

And making some interesting modifications to the bio-mech. Modifications that would remain safely unseen unless needed.

The main one was currently sleeping in the main battery, if sleeping was even the right word. In any case, it was ready to act should the need arise.

Now, if only he could have tried some of the best stunts in a live test, he wouldn't be so nervous. But EVA-01 had lost its pallette rifle sometime after the Twelfth Angel attacked, even the hand gun had been lost. But, he didn't dare to try his improvements back on Earth unless it was an emergency.

At least he was moderately sure any strange stunts he hoped to be able to do would probably be thought as the Angel having somehow affected UNIT-01, and not what they really were.

Magic.

Just as Escalla's spells were themed after bees, his own spells manifested as AT Fields.

And he had a really big ace in his sleeve; according to Morag, Unit-01's core was soaked in magic, and he could use it at an EVA scale, meaning his own magical powers would be amplified to an incredible degree, proportional to the artificial humanoid size.

"Begin activation sequence, Shinji."

Dr. Akagi's voice brought him back to the moment. "Iniciating sequence."

"All systems nominal, Dr. Akagi." Maya informed, "Initial synch rate is 83%!"

Shinji smiled, it was better than expected. It was even better than his last recorded stats! Not bad. Especially taking into account he hadn't piloted in five years.

Or four days, depending on who you asked.

Sadly, that high mark carried an unavoidable consequence...

* * *

Asuka stormed out from Central Dogma when she heard Shinji's Initial synch. It was bad enough he had surpassed her precious synch rate before the Twelfth Angel attacked, he was doing it again.

She felt a chill run through her spine. She had put everything she had in her training, sacrificing everything to be the best pilot the World would ever know, and the baka was better than her.

But even worse than being second best was being second best to somebody who didn't even want to be in the race!

She felt the burning in her eyes, the tears she had spent almost a decade keeping in threatened to flow. She knew that if she wavered for a single second, she wouldn't be able to stop.

* * *

'So, Mother? Are we still in agreement?' Silently, Shinji sent a thought into the EVA's core.

'Yes. The scenario must be stopped.' Yui Ikari answered from EVA-01´s core.

'Good, I will keep an eye on Father, you try to communicate with the other EVAs. The spells we linked to Unit-01's core should be enough, but I'm not sure who is in there. Next synch test will be the best time for you to tell me if Dr. Soryu is the soul in Unit-02 as you suspect."

'Agreed. You know? I Am of two minds about this, on one hand, I miss Kyoko, she always knew how to make me laugh, something your Father was abysmally bad at. Having the chance to speak to her again would be great. On the other hand, she got bored easily, I don't know just how crazy bored she might be after all this time.'

Shinji shrugged mentally, 'We need to know. I need to get Asuka on our side, Rei will be a problem, Father has indoctrinated her for a lifetime.'

'Are you sure you're up to this? From what I've seen, Kyoko's little girl is terribly stubborn.'

'Yup,' Shinji had adopted some mannerisms from his adoptive family, some verbal tics he was very familiar with, 'and she's also a very sore loser. That's what got us where we are now, remember?'

'How could I forget?' Yui sighed, 'Are you sure she has potential?'

'Sure, she actually shines like a little sun. I did cast the spell the day after we came back. She just needs some guidance to start, that's all. I hope she will listen to our little friend once I show her that magic is real. If I'm reading her soul-light correctly, she will be very powerful.'

Shinji smirked a little. 'The Angels are gonna get a nasty surprise.' He rubbed his fingertips together, as the stereotypical movie safecracker. 'A very nasty surprise.' For a moment, he wished to run his hands together, twirl his non-existant moustache and laugh like a maniac. He had the whole stereotypical villain routine down. Escalla herself had coached him during a very boring afternoon in a quite depopulated dungeon. Well... It wasn't depopulated when they had arrived...

Yui cackled from the core, 'Don't forget about your Father, and those old farts from SEELE! They owe you for, well... For almost everything you had to endure.'

'They also owe you. They owe us. And now we have the means to collect, with interest.'

A crystal clear laughter rang in Shinji's mind.

Akagi's voice brought him back to the real world. 'Very good, Shinji. We're done for today. You are still the top scorer."

* * *

Somewhere else, in a dark alley.

A bank of fog receded into a basement door. The door was open, and lead into a underground warehouse, long abandoned. If somebody had been close enough, They would Have heard several screeching voices, gibbering in fear, anger, and hunger.

* * *

Shinji awaited the powering down of EVA-01 surveillance systems with well hidden impatience. For the brief fourteen seconds the plug was disconnected from external view, the young pilot hurried to release a catch and extract something that at first look seemed a black handkerchief. But on close inspection was too dark to be any kind of cloth known on Earth. It was one of his most prized belongings. As the LCL level descended, Shinji pushed the black "cloth" under the plugsuit's collar.

* * *

Arriving back at the Katsuragi apartmen, Asuka received him with calculated coldness. Shinji sighed, it seemed all the progress they had made since his return had been lost.

Well, time to work.

As Misato indulged in her nightly libation to the beer gods, Shinji put hands to spice. He decided on dishes from Oerth. Of course, that particular type of fish was unknown on Earth, he would Have to do with the equivalent: regular size catfish, instead of the giant variety. And just for the memory of old friends, a special dessert: faerie cakes.

Half an hour later, he had a passable imitation on the table. The smell prompted Pen-Pen to come out of his fridge, a rare ocurrance, as the warm-water penguin usually took his bown inside for dinner. This time, the bird sat next to Shinji's place at the table.

Misato shook her head, smiling. "Wow! You have surpassed yourself this time, Shinji! What is it? It smells great!"

"An old family recipe a good friend taught me. Grilled catfish with several secret spices. I'm sworn not to divulge the secret, but I can make it any time."

Misato closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. "MmMmm... If it tastes even half as good as it smells... Your friend should open a restaurant..."

"He's not the kind to deal nicely with lots of people, Misato. But I'm sure he would like to know you liked it." Shinji thought he was being terribly diplomatic about his friend. He snickered, for a moment thinking of the Justicar with a chef hat on his head, or even better, over Cinders' head!

In her room, Asuka turned on her bed, trying to escape the delicious smells. She resisted for long minutes, until inevitably, her hunger won.

The redhead sat at the table, studiously avoiding Shinji's eyes. She was angry, and hurt, but her pride demanded her to show no weakness.

* * *

Finally, dinner was over, Misato retired to her room to sleep, leaving the two teenagers at the table. Asuka had surreptitiously taken several extra faerie cakes. When she stood to leave, Shinji grabbed her arm. "We have to talk." He said, his eyes loaded with seriousness.

Asuka put her nose up in the air. "I have nothing to talk with you." And she made to leave. Shinji's grip kept her into place. As soon as she sat again, Shinji released her.

"Good, listen then. I know you are upset with me. I'm an unwelcome rival."

Asuka pulled her arm back. "What you are is a cheater, Third. There is no way on Earth you could be better than me at the EVA's controls."

"That's right."

That simple admission shook Asuka into silence. She looked deep into Shinji's eyes. He held her into place with just his eyes.

"It was not by design." He shrugged. "There is a secret I stumbled upon by accident. I only found out what It was, what it IS, after theTwelfth Angel absorbed Unit-01. It belongs to you too."

Asuka's eyes jumped from Shinji's right eye to the left, trying to catch him in a lie.

Shinji's voice dropped to a hypnotic whisper. "Magic."

"What kind of idiot do you think I am, Third? Magic doesn't exist! If you are trying to prank me, at least have the frakking decency of making it a convincing lie!"

Shinji's eyes never wavered, his stare made Asuka quite uncomfortable, in ways she wasn´t really sure were actually uncomfortable. Shinji continued, "I know it is hard to believe. But magic is real." He pulled a ring from his shirt pocket. "Here, a peace offering. Look at the size, then put it on."

Asuka took the ring, It was a simple metal band. It looked like silver. "Yeah, sure, you baka. This ring was made for a man, a big one at that. I could put it on my big toe and it would still be too big for me!"

"It's a magic ring, Asuka. It will change size according to the user's size." He explained patiently.

"Pff... As if. This thing must have an inner diameter of almost an inch. My fingers are not even half of that."

"Try it on. If it doesn't adjust to your finger, I will consider our little bet paid in full, and will pay as if I had lost."

"Very well. I'm not made for doing laundry anyway. Here it goes." Asuka put the ring on her pinky. A brief flash of light later, it fit perfectly on its place.

Asuka gasped, and almost fell from her chair. "Was? This can't be!" She turned her hand in front of her face, looking at the ring.

"Do you believe me now? Now, take it off for a moment." He extended his left hand. "Put it on any of my fingers, and don't let it go until I tell you to. No, don't give it to me, I could exchange it for another."

Amazed, Asuka did as she was told. She put the ring in Shinji's middle finger, the ring flashed again, Asuka's own fingers tingled. The ring fit perfectly on her colleague's finger. "You can release it now, Asuka."

"This can't be! It can't!" Her anger forgotten, she smiled like a little girl.

"Convinced?"

"Give it back!"

Shinji smiled at her, and pulled the ring off; taking her hand, he put the ring back on her pinky. Once the ring fit her again, he softly released her hand. "The ring is yours. Keep it."

Asuka took the ring off, and put it in other finger. She repeated the process with all her fingers, laughing all the time.

Once she tired of the game, she smiled at Shinji. "So, Ikari, you said It was a magic ring. What does it do apart of saving me money and time at the jewelry shop?"

"I'll give you a hint, you would have loved to have had it last time you went diving..."

Asuka stopped admiring her new ring for a moment. "What? The last time I went diving was... No way! Back in that damned volcano!"

"It's a Ring of Fire Resistance." Shinji leaned back on his chair, smiling.

"How does it work? What do I do?" She blurted, she rubbed the ring as if It was Aladdin's Lamp.

"It's a passive protection. Once you put it on, it will protect you from some of the effects of fire and heat. All the time; you don't have to do anything to activate it. You could stand in a lit chimney and wouldn't feel any heat. you could also handle a hot pan with your bare hands and wouldn´t burn your fingers. But diving in lava would be fatal. It has a limit. Still, had you had it in EVA-02's plug, you could Have used your regular plugsuit and still been perfectly comfortable. No need to use the beachball suit."

She narrowed her eyes, suspicious. "What else you got?"

He shrugged. "I have some very interesting toys stored. Some are for you, some for... Others. But those are not free. I need several things from you."

"I knew it! You are a pervert!"

He snorted. "Not that kind of things. First, I need your discretion. This is not to be discussed with anybody I don't aprove." He extended his right índex finger upwards.

"Hah! Of course! I don't wanna change my address to the Laughing House, thank you very much! What else?"

"Second, I have to tell you some things you won't want to hear, but you need to. Not now, but I need you to promise you will listen with an open mind." He extended his middle finger too, forming a "V" in the air.

She nodded tentatively. "Okay... I promise."

"Third, and I think This will be the hardest."

"Who do you think you're talking to? I am the GREAT Asuka Langley Soryu! Genius! Pilot! War Hero!"

"Can you be Asuka the Apprentice?"

"Wait, what?"

Shinji smiled like a piranha. A smile he had copied from Cinders. He was far from being a Hellhound, but the effect was still noticeable.

* * *

 **Author´s Notes:**

Yup, Shinji brought quite a haul of Chekhov´s Guns from Oerth (not actual guns, of course). The ring is just the very first magic iten he stashed in preparation for his return to Earth.

Jus and Escalla helped Shinji with the selection of items. They stuck to a few criteria: they had to be discrete, portable, easily used, and relatively powerful. Shinji had access to magic wands, scrolls, swords and staves, but those are quite noticeable. So, they mostly restricted their selection to things that wouldn´t be really obvious. He has a few of them available, but only as last resort.

And yes, Shinji is a magic user. Not a Cleric or a Paladin, as his mentors had a very low opinion of those. Being a Wizard would be too restrictive, with the need to replenish his spells with a spell book. So, there really was only a choice for Shinji. The pilot of Unit-01 is a Sorcerer (Pathfinder rules, I´ll be expanding on this later). Asuka´s future class is still in the air. She will be using arcane magic, but won´t be a Sorceress.


	3. Nice to Meet You - Cards on the Table

**_Tokyo-3 Arcana  
Chapter 3_**

 ** _Nice to Meet You / Cards on the Table_**

* * *

 ** _Please Read and Review._** _I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it)._

* * *

Hikari Horaki walked back home, after a long day as Class Representative. _'I swear, herding Suzuhara and Aida is worse than herding cats. Hyperactive cats at it. They get distracted by the smallest things. I mean, just how hard is it to clean a classroom? Ikari and Ayanami can do most of the job by themselves, I hardly have to tell them what to do... Why can't the other Two Stooges learn from their example..?'_

She wiped her forehead with a handkerchief. _'And they had to act out just as the heat is worse...'_

She was still several blocks away from her house, and stopped at the store. She took out her cellphone, and quickly called her big sister. "Kodoma? Hi! Did you get the groceries?" Her face fell at the answer. "C'mon! It was **your turn**!"

Hikari leaned her back agains a wall. "No, no. Sigh... Okay, yes. I'll just ask Mrs. Yamada if I can get her the money tomorrow morning on my way to school."

She cut off the call, exasperated. _'And Kodama is worse... She's twenty and I am the one who has to take care of the house...'_ She put the device back in her school bag, and turned towards Mrs. Yamada's store.

When she was about to walk in front of a small alley entrance, she heard a noise and jumped back in fright. At first she thought a cat must had knocked down some trash cans.

Then, a sharp scream made her jump again. "Leave me alone, you melon-headed reprobates!" More trash cans were knocked down, and a girl came running out, holding the lid of a can as kind of an improvised shield. The girl crashed against Hikari, almost knocking her down. The lid fell from her fingers, rolling away for a few yards, until it clattered down.

"Oh, Hi! Sorry about that. Hum, not to hurry you up, but those guys back there... Well... I'd say we should run away. And fast, if you catch my drift."

Hikari looked at the girl, then at the alley. She could see a few shadows moving at the other end. In a split second, she took a decision, grabbed the hand of the girl. "Run!" she hissed, and dragged the girl behind her.

They ran to the end of the block, turned around and hid behind the corner. Hikari peeked from their hideout, and saw a gang of children pour out of the alley like a swarm of angry hornets. Looking around for their prey.

They looked to be around six or seven years old, judging from their size, but there was something nasty on the way they moved. They had really big heads, for a moment, Hikari thought they looked like american footballs... Or maybe even melons. They wore mismatched clothes, dirty and ragged. But the worst part was that each one wielded a rusty knife, and looked like they knew how to use them. Even more disturbing, they were singing a creepy little song with screechy, raspy voices.

 _"We be new here! We come thru!  
We be hunting now for you!  
Cut your guts until you dead!  
Cut your throat and kick the head!_

 _Run away! Go run and hide!  
We will catch you and eat your eyes!  
We cut legs until you fall!  
We be goblins, hunters all!"_

The girl pulled at Hikari's hand, and urgently whispered "Listen, kid. We really must make ouselves scarce here. Savvy?"

Slowly, Hikari backed from the corner. Once out of the view of the gang of urchins, she nodded. Both ran away as fast as they could. They ran a block, changed direction, and ran away four more blocks in a zigzag pattern.

Finally, Hikari judged they had escaped. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, and gasped several times, trying to recover her breath.

The girl smiled widely. "That was great!" And she jumped up and down several times. "Oh, I'm sorry. Limiry Siggari, at your service!" she bowed with a complicated series of hand movements Hikari couldn't follow. Now that she had time, the Class Rep looked at her strange companion.

The girl looked like a clown. Bright yellow painted skin, a polka dot tunic in green and purple, a vest that seemed to be made mostly of pockets, which bulged in some places. Mismatched shoes, in both style and color. Her neon pink hair had been arranged in complex ringlets that must have taken hours to do.

"Hum..." Limiry hesitated, "you wouldn't know of a place I could stay for a few days?" Hurriedly, she added, "I can pay, I swear I can pay! I have gold! Look!", the girl jingled a bag. "And I can bring Desna's blessing to the place if you allow me to."

Hikari finally had recovered her breath. "Blessing? Desna's blessing?"

"Sure. I'm a priestess in good standing, even though I cannot remember some things, I remember that." she shrugged, holding up the curious pendant that hanged from her neck. "See? The High Priestess didn't give me this holy symbol just because I have great sense of fashion!"

The pendant was shaped like a blue butterfly, each of its upper wings held an eight-pointed star, while one of the lower wings held a sun and the other a waning moon. The pendant was exquisitely made. A true work of art.

Hikari gulped, "No, I guess not." She walked a couple of steps back. As non-chalantly as possible.

Limiry's exhuberance dropped. "Oh, I see..." she said sadly, "I'm doing it again..."

She seemed about to cry. The girl sat on the curb. "I didn't mean to alarm you. It was just the excitement..."

Hikari was about to run away, but her compassion won. "Shhh... Don't cry." And patted the girl on the shoulder. "It's okay."

Limiry straightened up."I'm not a baby, you know. Just because I'm a gnome it doesn't mean I'm not a fully functioning adult!"

"Gnome?"

"Oh, man..." Limiry gasped, "Please, don't tell me you are one of those isolationist humans I've heard about in..." Her brow knotted in concentration, "...somewhere."

"No, no! Of course not." Hikari backpedaled, "It's just I thought gnomes were just, you know... fairy tales."

Limiry smiled, "Ah, well, I know what you mean. They will tell you anything just to see how long they can string you on. But let me tell you, I am very real. Well, it was nice to meet you, and thanks for the race. It was fun!"

Hikari stood again, "Pleased to meet you, Limiry. Will you be okay?"

"Sure, don't worry. I'll find a place. I just need to rest for a few minutes and then I'll go my merry way."

Hikari stood up, and realized at some point, she had slightly twisted her left ankle, the adrenaline rushing through her veins had kept her from noticing. She grunted in pain. The ankle was already swelling.

Limiry was at her side in an instant. "You okay? Let me see." The girl knelt besides Hikari, and carefully touched the injured ankle; Hikari winced at her touch. Limiry nodded to herself. "No problem, let me heal you."

Before Hikari could say anything, Limiry grabbed her pendant and mumbled some words. about the only one had heard before was _Desna,_ and was just a little while before. A light passed from Limiry's fingers to Hikari's ankle; and after a few seconds, the pain disappeared, along with the swelling.

"How... How did you do that?" Hikari's eyes almost popped out of her face. She gingerly put some weight on her foot, realizing there was no pain at all.

"I told you, I'm a priestess. It's my calling." Limiry smiled warmly.

"Could you tell me more?"

Limiry's stomach growled. She smiled awkwardly. " hum... Could we get something to eat first?"

Hikari nodded with a smile. "I know a good place not far from here. My treat."

* * *

"You will tell me all your secrets, Third!" Asuka grinned at her oponent, feinting with her left hand and immediately throwing a quick jab with the right.

"You have to do way better than that, Red Devil!" Shinji dodged the jab with a grateful movement, and slapped Asuka's hand to one side.

"Oh, now you did it!" The redhead stepped back to prepare for her next movement.

"Yup, I did it." Shinji held up his hand, showing the ribbon he had teared from Asuka's vest. "And I think that's it for today."

"What? I didn't... I didn't even feel when you did that!" Surprised, Asuka patted her vest, checking she had no ribbons left, while Shinji still had his full complement of tearable ribbons.

Shinji smiled, "I just used your own movement. But to be honest, you did much better than I expected."

"Of course!" Asuka grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat off her face. "What I want to know is how come you're not even breathing hard! You were jumping around like a monkey on double expressos!"

"Ah, well... That's gonna be hard to believe..." Sheepishly, Shinji rubbed the back of his head.

"After your little demonstration yesterday?" Asuka arched an eyebrow.

"Yup, even after that. I had a hard time believing it myself, even though I was in the middle of it."

"Spill it." Asuka wiped the sweat off her face with a small towel.

"Okay, are you familiar with the multiverse theory?"

"Yes, the existence if alternate universes, in different planes of existence. Never been proved, though it makes for a nice resource for science fiction writers. Why?"

"They really exist. I've been in three different dimensions. And as it happens, there are many more."

"No way!"

"I swear on the most sacred... Thing. The Twelfth Angel was a whole dimension by itself. And somehow it sent me to yet another dimension." Shinji sat on the floor, cross-legged, resting his hands on his knees.

"It was like something out of a fantasy movie, with magic and dragons. I was very, very lucky, and was found by the best group of people I could have asked for." His eyes lost focus for a moment, he seemed lost in his memories, but he went back to normal so fast Asuka doubted her own eyes.

"Yeah, sure, like you could have gotten very far in what? Seventeen, eighteen hours? Tops?" Asuka sat next to him.

"That's the time that passed here, Asuka. For me... It was quite longer." He pulled up his right sleeve. "Press here." He pointed at his elbow. "Feel something there?"

Gingerly, Asuka pressed where Shinji had pointed. "There's a bump. It feels like a healed fracture."

"It is, I got it while fleeing from a nesting giant eagle. Now, try here." He pointed at his left collarbone. While Asuka traced the bone, he continued, "a little souvenir from an orc bandit."

He smirked, "Dr. Akagi said I have so many scars I should have been in the ICU looking like a mummy for months. I've been hit, crushed, zapped, cut, burnt, poisoned, slammed; in short, I've had almost every kind of getting hurt known to medical science, plus a few it doesn't know, not in this world. Lucky me, I had a friend who was very generous with healing spells, or I would really be in bad shape." He shrugged. "I got my little collection of scars over a long time."

Asuka grew serious. "How long..."

Shinji lowered his eyes, and whispered, "Five years."

Asuka gasped. "But... But you don't look a single day older! Unless you found the Fountain of Youth! I mean..." She shook her head. "Hell and Damnation, you came back wearing the same plugsuit! We have to get new ones every couple of months as we grow up!"

"True. But it was a little side effect of the... company I kept." He looked at Asuka. "Her very presence kept all of us stuck at the same age." A sad smile crossed his lips for a moment.

"So... You're trying to say you are actually nineteen years old?" Asuka recoiled.

"In a way, yes. Physically I am still fourteen, with a lot of experience and healed lesions. Mentally, I am nineteen. Emotionally... Well... I guess I'm still fourteen."

"Oh, yeah? And why is that so, hm?"

"Because all I've been able to think about since I woke up back in this world is..." A strange look crossed Shinji's eyes. He breathed deep, steeling himself. "You."

The volatile pilot inhaled sharply. "Knock it off, you baka! Now you're going to tell me you are falling in love with me. Hmph, as if."

"It took me a long time to realize my feelings towards you. I wouldn't say I am actually in love." Asuka's eyes widened in surprise. "But I do like you, not just as a friend. Since we met aboard the _Over the Rainbow_. But as you already know, I was a complete baka then."

"Then why did you just stand there when we kissed? Answer that!"

He looked at her with a deep sadness in his eyes and voice. "Because _I was a baka_. I had no idea of what to do." Shinji flicked a piece of brick away. "I was being kissed by the girl of my dreams and I hadn't the foggiest idea if I should hold you, just keep quiet, or run to the hills and shout to the whole world I had kissed the most beautiful girl in the whole world! My brain was in meltdown, Asuka. The whole building could have been on fire at that moment, and I wouldn't have moved a single muscle."

He shrugged, "I'm sorry I was worse than an orc." He seemed to shrink into himself. "You were very clear about it afterwards, and I don´t blame you for it. I've had five years to come to terms with that." He sighed. "So, I will do everything in my power to help you survive this Iuz-damned Angel War. We still need to face five more Angels, and that will be it."

"What about Ayanami? Will you help her too?" Asuka's voice cracked.

"Yes. But not in the same way nor for the same reason. She's... Oh, you are so not believing this!" He smiled ruefully. "She's kind of my sister."

"Wait, what?"

Shinji stood up, looked at his watch, and said, "That is a tale for another time. I trust you to keep all we have talked about between just the two of us. We should go back to Misato's. It's almost dinner time. Coming?"

"In a minute. I... I will go down in a minute. I have to... To gather our stuff..." she gestured towards the containers of their meal, consumed three hours before.

"Sure. I"ll prepare some cream and sausages. It's okay?"

Asuka nodded. While Shinji crossed the door to the stairs down from the roof, the German raised pilot looked at him, biting her lower lip.

* * *

 **Author Notes.**

Limiry is a gnome from _Pathfinder_ , (actually, the gnomes aren't native of Golarion, but came from some other world, wich they call the First World). In this setting, gnomes have unusual pigmentation in skin, hair and eyes; all in bright colors. For example, the Iconic Druid, Lini, has bright yellow skin and green hair.

Gnomes need a constant influx of new experiences, it is literally a matter of life or death for them. Otherwise, they will literally lose the will to live and even the color of their skin and hair will grow paler and paler, until they are almost white. Most gnomes don't survive the experience. They literally die of boredom. The few who survive lose their exhuberance and are shunned by the other gnomes.

Limiry is three feet tall, and fully developed, but her choice of clothing hides it. She's a Cleric of Desna, Goddess of Dreams, Luck, Stars, and Travelers. Limiry will be around for a while.

We saw her briefly back in Chapter 1.

* * *

The gang of urchins Limiry and Hikari flee from are Golarion goblins, a nasty variant of the usual D&D creatures. These are big-headed, somewhat manic (especially when fire is involved), and tend to sing creepy songs. They are also funny in a strange way.

* * *

The way Shinji describes his kiss with Asuka was very influenced by Panther2G´s _Advice and Trust_ , a great AU Evangelion story. If you haven´t read it, go now.


	4. Look Outside, Look Inside - Settling In

_**Tokyo-3 Arcana  
**_ _ **Chapter 4  
Look Outside, Look Inside / Settling In**_

* * *

"So, how did the honeymoon planning go, Shinji?" Misato smiled like a content cat to her ward as soon as the door opened.

"Ah, well... You know, Asuka likes the beach, I like the mountains. She can't sky, I can't swim..." He answered, moving his hands, palm up, like the scales of a balance; and without the slightest hint of a blush. "I think we will have to arrange two honeymoons." Smiling widely, he snapped his fingers. "Hey, I have an idea! Let's Asuka choose where we spend _our_ honeymoon, and _you and Kaji_ go to the other place. Everybody wins!"

Her jaw dropped, and her empty beer can fell on her lap. "B-b-but... You... Her..." She stammered.

Shinji smiled crookedly at her, "Gotcha." There was a little click and a flash. Shinji looked at the small screen, and smiled like a piranha. "Hoopy! Documentary proof!" He pocketed his cellphone in a smooth movement. "Misato Katsuragi can actually blush like a school girl!"

Misato gasped, "Why, you..." She stood up to get the incriminating proof, but she had to stop and rub her eyes, to try to get rid of the spots in her vision.

"Oh, your face!" Shinji snickered, and suddenly, he began to laugh, it was a full belly laugh; his shoulders shook as he grabbed the back of a chair to steady himself. A moment later, Misato joined him, thinking: _´Ah, I can live with that pic floating around in NERV, as long as Shinji is safe and sound.´_

 _'Gods, I missed him!'_ She smiled at him, passed an arm over his shoulders, and pulled him down as they laughed their heads off. She messed with his hair, glad to gave him back. "Gimme that cell phone, you scoundrel!"

"No way in this world! This is prime quality blackmail matter!" He answered, barely understandable with his laughter. If there was something Shinji had learned to love during his long stay in Oerth, it was laughter. He wiped a tear from his left eye, looked at Misato and started again.

The Major laughed so hard she began hiccuping. She felt the last of the stress she had accumulated since Shinji had disappeared into the Twelfth Angel drain off her body.

Shinji looked at her, still laughing. _´Heavens above, I missed her!´_

* * *

In the deepest part of the forest around Tokyo-3, a bank of mist evaporated; leaving behind a short, squat, powerfully muscled figure.

"By the Forge of my Ancestors! Where am I?" The voice was deep and husky. The dwarf stood up, appraising the environment. Powerful fingers, tanned by the heat of the forge, closed on the handle of a beautifully crafted axe. Its whole surface was covered with intrincate filigree, in what in this world would be called celtic knots.

The dwarf looked around, finding the sun was almost touching the horizon, she had to hurry up. "Hrumpf... I guess I have to lit the coal to melt the ore. Good thing I still have some sunlight." Expert eyes looked around, finding a dead, dry tree. A few hits of the axe later, there was a pile of wood, ready for a campfire. A short search later, the perfect place to camp had been found. Interestingly, there were a few small boxes, no bigger than her open hand; made of strange, colorful paper lying on the floor. The paper was about as thick as parchment, but very smooth, impossibly smooth, in fact.

"Hmm... This is strange, the images are much better than I have ever seen... This must have costed a fortune to print! Why are they just lying around... like garbage?" She turned the box around, it was strangely folded and one side had been glued to itself. The other side had been ripped apart. Inside the box, there was a... was that a bag? What could it be made of? The bag was made from some metal sheet! Beaten so finely she could barely feel the thickness between her fingers, the metallic bag was quite clean, except for some smears of a dark stuff. One side of the bag had been ripped open, and the rip was strangely clean, like it had been cut with a knife. But it was irregular, like it had been made by a drunk. What a strange thing...

"Pocky? Who, or what, in the name of the gods is a Pocky?" she turned the box around, although there were smaller characters printed on the box, they were quite small, and she thought it would be better to examine them later. "Could be this human girl´s name, I guess." She took a sniff of the dark stuff in the bag. It was a new smell, strangely sweet, but very alluring. It made her salivate a little. "Ah, I see... These must be wrapped offerings to the god or goddess, Pocky!"

She shrugged, humans were weird anyway, and collected the strange boxes to study them later.

Taking a piece of flint from a pocket, the dwarf sat on a stone, and started the fire by hitting the axe with the piece of flint, so the sparks would fall in the kindling she had perpared.

She was lucky to still have a few iron rations available. This was not a good time to go looking for food in an unknown place.

Once she had a good fire, she settled on a flat stone, and began the long wait for the light of the next day. She was careful to keep in a not too comfortable position.

She wasn´t very far from a city, if the sea of lights she could see in the distance was any indication. Still, walking around in the dark, in an unknown forest? No thanks. Will-o-wisps might be around, and she had no intention of getting even more lost than she already was.

Come morning, she would get close to the city. Maybe she could find an inn to stay for a few days.

* * *

Unknown to her, a human boy had set up camp downhill, and was getting ready to eat. The boy pushed his glasses up his nose, and stretched his arms. It had been a long, fun day, playing his war games in the wilderness. Well, not exactly wilderness, the forest around Tokyo-3 was quite tame, after all. He gathered his maps, and put them back in the weather-proofed mapbag.

An hour later, Kensuke Aida laid down in his sleeping bag, and looked up at the starts.

When he fell asleep, he dreamt of piloting an Evangelion Unit in battle against an Angel.

* * *

Up in the roof of the apartment building, Asuka Langley Soryu sat on a bench, watching the sunset. It was, in fact, the very same bench she and Shinji had occupied back when they had been doing their synch training to face that gott-damned two-for-the-price-of-one Angel.

She had already collected the containers they had taken with them to eat before they had began with her first lesson with Shinji as her... mentor? Teacher? He had surprised her with the easy way he had evaded her tries to rip his ribbons. She hadn´t even been able to rip a single one of his!

The redheaded pilot wasn't really prone to introspection. During her most honest moments, she herself knew it was one of her worse character flaws. But, as she considered herself a creature of instinct, she wasn't really worried about that. Actually, she preferred not to think too deeply about... relationships.

She drew her legs up on the bench, hugging her calves and resting her chin on her knees. She needed to think.

Shinji's words had shaken her to the very core of her being. _'He actually likes me! Despite how awfully I have treated him, he likes me.'_

 _'Why?'_

Her emotions were running all around her. His confession about the kiss... She smiled to herself. _´Brain meltdown! I knew he couldn't have disliked my kiss! And he has nice, soft lips...'_ Softly, her fingers touched her lips for a moment, remembering the feeling of Shinji´s lips over her own. For a moment, she allowed herself to get lost in the memory.

She winced when she remembered how that night had ended. His immobility had disturbed her on a level she didn´t understand.

Until now.

Her eyes snapped open. _'Nineteen years! Five years away from here! He is nineteen years old in a fourteen years old body!"_

Impossible to believe.

But...

The little guy had changed. She couldn't deny that. Just a few days before she could have kicked his scrawny ass all around the block and he wouldn't have done anything to stop her.

Now? He was running circles around her without any effort! She realized then that baka Shinji was no longer that little scarecrow of a boy she could push around to her heart's content.

He could, and would, push back! That thought was strangely exhilarating. Finally, the Third Chosen Child was really a rival she could... what? She didn´t really know what to think of Shinji now. He had changed in a fundamental level, he had grown up, had matured in ways she didn´t know. Even his body language had changed. Gone was that shyness, that... meekness that was so irritating. _´Now that I think about it... He hasn´t apologized to me! Not the way he used to do. This time, I think it was a_ _ **sincere**_ _apology, not just an automatic excuse to avoid a confrontation.´_

She looked at the simple ring on her middle finger. A true magic ring! She had chosen to put the ring on her right hand, very deliberatedly not on her left hand. Her left ring finger was off-limits.

Very off-limits. She would only accept a very special ring for that finger. And only from one person. Her _true_ love.

* * *

Down at the sewers, a bank of fog receded, leaving behind a strange creature. It could be described as a bloated sack of protoplasm. As soon as the fog disappeared, the thing began to move around the filthy water, absorbing the decaying matter around it. An unlucky rat paid with its life for the moment of curiosity that kept it immobile in the reach of the thing. The rat was engulfed by the creature. The animal died in just a few, painful moments, and the dead body began to broke down into a digestible slush while the thing crawled.

* * *

"Father, Kodama, Nozomi; I´d like to introduce you to a friend of mine, this is Limiry Siggari." Hikari bowed to her family, and stepped aside, allowing a short, strange girl to enter her home.

The girl bowed deeply, as Hikari had taught her. "May Desna´s blessing bring sweet dreams to the people in this home, for all the Horaki Family and their friends."

Mr. Horaki raised an eyebrow at the strange greeting, still, the girl seemed quite nice. Although just why she had decided to dye her hair neon pink at so young an age was beyond him.

Hikari and Limiry put the bags of groceries on the kitchen table, while Mr. Horaki watched the strange girl. "Um... Miss... Siggari? Please sit down a moment."

Limiry looked at Hikari, who nodded minutely. Limiry bowed again, and sat next to Nozomi. The youngest Horaki sister smiled at her. They were about the same height, and Nozomi put that in the plus column, she needed more friends her age. "Nozomi, please go help Hikari in the kitchen, while I speak to Miss Siggari."

Nozomi pouted for a moment, but obeyed.

Mr. Horaki folded his newspaper and looked at Limiry. "Hello, I´m Hikari´s father, welcome to our humble home."

"Thanks you, Sir. It´s a very beautiful home." Limiry looked around, marveling at the place, smiling widely. "Hikari told me you are looking for a tenant. Is that still true?"

"Well, yes... Things have been somewhat strained all over town, with the Angels and all that."

"She already paid for a week, dad." Hikari´s voice came from the kitchen. "Monday I´ll go to the bank to deposit the money. I used a part to pay for the groceries."Once her father had nodded his approval, Hikari thought, _´I need to find out how much the gold coin she gave me is worth, I think she might be staying more than just a week...´_

"Ok, honey. Remember to give her her receipt" Hikari handled most of the family finances anyway. The man turned to his new guest "But what about your parents?"

"Oh, no need to worry, sir. You see, I am actually a g-" From the kitchen, Hikari cleared her throat. "g-grown person. I´m just small. A medical condition, you know. I´m kinda sensitive about that." She shrugged; for a moment, Limiry had forgotten about Hikari´s advice. "Ahem. I´m a... what do you call it..? A suitcaser?"

"A backpacker. She´s travelling the world, dad. She still need to polish her Japanese a little, dad." Hikari added from the kitchen, while she had started to prepare dinner.

"Ah, yes, backpacker. Sadly, my backpack was misplaced and I´ll need to replace my things. Lucky me, I had kept the money on my person. So it was not not as big a loss as it could have been. Still, I would like to stay in Tokyo-3 for a while. This place is wonderful!" Behind her eyes, gears were turning, _´There´s a lot of new stuff here! I bet I can keep the Bleaching at bay for a long time here!´_

Mr. Hokari nodded. "Welcome then to our home, Miss Siggari. After dinner, we can go through the house rules for your stay."

"Thanks you, Mr. Horaki. I look forward to it. Hikari has been very helpful." Limiry bowed respectfully at him, and went to the kitchen to help Hikari.

* * *

Inside an abandoned warehouse, in the same neighbourhood Rei Ayanami lives, another bank of fog manifested itself, this time leaving behind a black, shiny spider the size of a dog. Immediately, the creature began to work on a web, ready for any prey that wandered into its parlour.

* * *

 _ **Author Notes:**_

The previous Shadow invasions brought inteligent beings, this time, they brought simple animals too. They have no magic, beyond what they need to actually exist. For the time being, they will keep to their current environment, but soon they will come into conflict with the inhabitants of Tokyo-3.

In a bad way.

* * *

BTW, the line "bloated sack of protoplasm" comes from _The Ren & Stimpy Show_, a very funny cartoon. Its gross-out humor is not for everybody, and it is very uneven in quality; but some episodes, like "Space Madness" are amazingly fun to watch.


	5. Asuka Soryu and the Sorceror

**Tokyo-3 Arcana**

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

 **Walking Down the Hill / Asuka Soryu and the Sorceror's Lesson**

* * *

Note, the parenthesis indicate languages other than Japanese, in this case, German.  
Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it).

* * *

 ** _Tokyo-03, Katsuragi Apartment (Not Exactly),_**

 ** _Sunday, (Very) Early Morning_**

Shinji focused his thoughts inwards, looking for his center, his core, his magic. He breathed deeply, consciously controlling his rhythm. Meanwhile, he revised his spell list.

He doubted he would need to use _Silence,_ as there were no other magic users on Earth. So he exchanged it for another _Darkness_ spell. It would probably be of limited use against an Angel, but against humans...

'No other magic users on Earth.' He smirked. 'Not yet. Unless I can do something about it.'

He wasn't in much of a hurry to test if his magical powers could actually work on the Evangelion itself, or even better, from it. Escalla and Morag were almost sure, but… there was only one way to know.

The Last Test.

The **Breaking** test.

He sighed.

He missed his friends on Oerth. He missed Oerth.

No one there had ever asked him to do anything he wasn't ready for, nor able and willing to do. The Justicar not only had taught him to fight, to think, and to survive. The grim ranger had instilled in him a sense of WHEN it was better to run and fight later from an advantageous position, despite Polk's… um… badgering… Shinji had taken Jus' lessons to heart.

That had saved his life more than once, and his friends' too.

When he would had once stayed and fought to the bitter end, risking his life and others', now he would act in a very different way. The fight against the Fourth Angel, which he now knew was named Shamshel, would have been indeed very different.

A sharp voice brought him back to Earth. "So, when will I meet my apprentice, kid? You know very well I am not that patient. It's boring here, I hate to be all alone. I already spent a couple of centuries alone, and I'm itching to go back to fulfilling my purpose. I wasn't made to be bored. I want to teach again. Pass on the Knowledge of the Art."

Shinji kept his eyes closed . But still answered. "She's not ready. Not yet. I'm preparing her as fast as I dare."

Shinji opened his eyes, having felt something brush against his fingers. Reflexively, he opened and closed his fists. His knuckles were hard enough to break boards. His fingers could crush the larynx of a half-grown orc. He smiled sadly. 'It was me or him.'

"Hey, buddy, you okay?"

"Yes, I was just thinking."

"Well… I think you should hurry up. I need a good apprentice, full of fire! Full of life!"

"Oh, you don't have anything to worry about that. She's fire and life incarnate! You would have your hands full, if you had them."

"I like the way I am." There was mirth in the voice. "I would look funny with hands."

Shinji laughed. "Yes, I think you are right."

"You done?"

"For now, yes." Shinji stood in the center of the black, round, room. He looked up, seeing only a black space above him. 'Now, that's a familiar ceiling.' He appreciated the gift with all his heart.

He pushed against the wall. The black surface felt rubbery under his fingertips. He lowered his hands, and opened a waterproof chest. Yes, everything was there.

He knew there wouldn't be anything missing, not a single person on the world would enter here. Still, it was conforting just to see his bounty.

A wide grin parted his mouth. "Oh, how Escalla cried, remember?"

"Escalla? By the Great Maker! You cried more."

His smile grew sad in remembrance. "Yes, I did. That was the day I knew. I really knew." His fingers closed the lid of the chest. "I had a family that loved me. And I knew I was actually worthy of having a family, of being loved and to love them back."

"Well, okay, I'll admit it. If I could, I'd have cried too."

"Really?"

"No. But still, it was nice to watch you guys."

"No offence, but you happen to be a jerk."

"None taken, it comes with the territory and the shape. Just be glad all your breakables are safely stored. You know how I get when I'm bored."

"Remind me not to leave you alone in Misato's apartment."

"Where would the fun be in that?" Shinji snorted. "From what you have told me about this Misato girl, she's quite the slob. She might not even notice!"

"Trust me, if you shred her clothes, she will notice. Just relax and plan your first class." Shinji opened his pack, and brought a set of manga books on the floor. "I got you these yesterday. I think you might like to have something to read while you wait."

"Very nice on your part, kid. Ah! I guess staying here might not be that bad."

Shinji extended the ladder and began to climb out. "I'm planning on giving her the first actual lesson later today, as soon as I can speak to her in private."

"Sure, go ahead…" The voice responded dismissively, while the soft rustle of pages being turned filled the extra-dimensional space.

* * *

 ** _Sewer System Under Tokyo-03, ,_**

 ** _Sunday Morning_**

The giant amoeba had grown fat with the refuse that floated down in the sewers. It had scoured clean a long portion of the tunnel it had manifested originally. There was no more sewage, no more cockroaches, no more rats. Where it had passed, only clean water and stone remained. It had grown bigger and bigger.

Inside it, still floated some slowly disintegrating bits of chitin, bone, carthilague; and less identifiable bits.

The giant amoeba slowed its movements. It found a nice ledge of stone to rest and digest its meal.

* * *

 ** _Forest Near Tokyo-03,_**

 ** _Sunday Morning_**

"Well met, young manling! Can you tell me the name of the city? I'm a bit lost."

Kensuke Aida eyed cautiously the strange woman who came down the hill, carryng a big axe on her shoulder. Just by the appearance, the axe was quite heavy. And very sharp. "Uh, sure... That's Tokyo-3. " he answered, and adjusted the backpack on his shoulders, not wanting to provoke her; but getting ready ion case he had to flee.

The woman seemed very strong, her arms were very thick. Kensuke had no doubt that, had she wanted to, she could snap him like a twig.

"Thanks. Do you know of any good inn I could stay a few days?" The woman walked easily next to Kensuke, carefully mantaining a couple of steps between them.

Kensuke shrugged. "Um... no... But I guess there must be a hotel or something."

"Good." Seeing his expression, the woman smiled. "Sorry, where are my manners? I am Rusilka; Rusilka Burningforge." She tapped her right fist on her left shoulder.

"Uh... Kensuke Aida, nice to meet you.", he stopped to bow, very respectfully.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Aida." Awkardly, Rusilka mimicked the bow. "Could I hire you as a guide, for today? I'm new around and I'd prefer to avoid any misunderstanding. I can pay you five gold coins or a small jeweled hair-ring." She shook her head, and several metallic rings tingled in her dark brown hair; it was braided in a very complicated pattern, and her braids were festooned with small abalories, some of them were simple metal rings, probably gold and silver, while others had small jewels.

Kensuke eyed her cautiously, half afraid and half curious. Finally, the curiosity won. "Deal, but I'd like to talk about the design of your axe."

"You like it?" she answered proudly, " Sure you do! I engraved it myself. Very sharp, perfectly balanced for work or combat." She put the axe head at the level of Kensuke's eyes. The engraving was even more delicate than he had thought at first. The bands that formed the knots had a fine filigree inside.

"It's beautiful." He whispered respectfully.

"Tell you what." She slapped Kensuke's arm, making him stumble. "If I like your city, once I'm established, I'll gladly accept a comission for a similar axe for you, at a very discounted price. What do you say?"

"Miss Rusilka, I'd very much like to have an axe like yours."

The dwarf smiled, "Lead the way then, Mr. Aida."

The pair walked down the mountain at a brisk pace, despite the weight of Kensuke's camping gear.

Tokyo-03, Abandoned Warehouse,

Sunday Morning

An alley cat prowled inside the deserted building. It was hungry, and the place had been a good hunting ground before, but today, it was strangely empty of rats or mice.

There was a strange smell in the air. Kinda spicy. Had the cat had access to a human vocabulary, it would have identified the smell as alike to cinnamon. Strange for a place that had been in disuse for several years. It should smell of dust, water damage, and rodents'droppings, not to a spice.

The cat wandered slowly, methodically checking the floors. After a while, it decided to look for its meal somewhere else.

Above it, waiting patiently, the eight shiny eyes of a giant black spider watched the cat. It wasn't really hungry at the moment, it had dined well on the rats and mice that populated the building.

Several minutes later, the hungry cat came out a hole in the wall, crossed the street, and decided to try its luck on the nearest park. Maybe it would have some luck and find a juicy squirrel or some food left from a picnic.

* * *

 ** _Tokyo-03, Katsuragi Apartment,_**

 ** _Sunday Morning; Breakfast Time_**

"Well, I must say I'm quite disappointed, Shinji. Your grades really dropped since you returned."

Shinji shrugged, "I'm going to need a little while to recover, Misato. I guess I'm still a bit... um... shocked..."

"Yeah, I guess... Just put some extra effort for this month, Okay?"

The pilot nodded firmly. "I will, Misato."

From the corner of his eye, Shinji felt Asuka's stare. Something worried her. Misato continued.

"Now, you, Asuka, have done much better in your asignements. Congratulations, keep up the good work."

Asuka smiled in satisfaction. The Third Child might have been able to get ahead of her in the synch tests (a temporal event, no doubt; especially now she knew he was cheating by using magic to synch), but in school? Once she had learned to better read the kanji? No chance. "Hey, college graduate, remember? This stuff is kid's play!"

Misato yawned and stretched. "oohhhh... Well. I'm falling asleep here. Stupid double shifts two stupid days in a row…" She mumbled, and yawned again. "I'd better get back to my room before I drop. See you two later. Please wake me up around 3'O clock."

She yawned by the third time, almost like a lioness, and dragged her feet back to her room, sliding the door closed. Asuka opened her mouth to say something, but Shinji stopped her by the simple expedient of raising his index finger.

She looked at him as if he had grown a third eye. Shinji tapped his ear and pointed at Misato's door. Asuka nodded, getting the message. They waited for a couple of minutes. Once they heard Misato's roaring snores, the German-raised pilot hissed a question, "What the Hell is going on, Third? Why the drop?"

Shinji leaned back on his chair. "Could you honestly say you can pass all your tests from five years ago?"

Her brow knotted for a moment. "Riiight... I see the problem. You haven't studied in five years, that's it?"

"Nope. Not Earth studies, at least. I could tell you a lot about many creatures from Oerth, both strange and normal; how to track them, what to do with them, how to recognize when and why they are dangerous or not, and even what kind of treasure you can expect to find on their lairs, if they have them. But about recent Japanese History? Not so much. I'm gonna need a lot of help to cram for the next test." He smiled ruefully.

"Ha! So Mighty Magical Shinji can't solve this with a spell?"

"Well... I might have some way to help me memorize stuff... But true understanding? Need help."

"Hmm... Tell you what, I'll help you with school;" she poked at the table with hey fingertip. "but only if you teach me magic."

"Deal, but... actually, I won't be teaching you magic myself. I am a Sorcerer, meaning I use a particular kind of magic because I was subject to a magical... Um... event. My teacher said I was soaked in interdimensional energy, and that's why I get to do magic. It's in my blood."

"So what? Did you get a transfusion or what?"

"I don't think it would work like that, no. There is another path. I think you have potential to be a Wizardess. However, that needs a somewhat different approach. I can give you tips on how to start, but the actual work is in your hands."

"Details, Third. Give me the details."

Shinji leaned forward, resting both his forearms on the table. "You will have to learn your spells from a book. You'll have to write your own spell book. I brought a good library from Oerth, which you can use to learn. How good are you with a quill and ink?"

"Like in Harry Potter?" A strange shadow passed over Asuka's face, but she recovered in a second. Shinji only saw it because he was used to look for behavioral clues.

Shinji raised an eyebrow. "um… I hate to say it, but I didn't get the reference."

"Ah.. It's a-a series of books. In a very small nutshell, the hero is a bullied introverted kid who goes to a magic school and learns to do magic, while the bad guy is trying to kill him due to a prophecy. Hrm..." She shifted uncomfortably on her seat. "The kids take notes and do their homework with ink and quills on parchment. They would be a cool movie series, if done well."

"Wait. Are you a fan?"

Asuka's face paled, and she averted her eyes. "N-no. They were very popular before Second Impact. My m-mother used to read them to me back when..."

"Say no more. I get it." He covered her hand with his, in a mute gesture of support, and squeezed once, releasing it immediately after.

"Do I have to learn fake latin and wave a magic wand?" She dropped the uncomfortable subject like a hot potato.

"Hmm? Oh, no. No latin, and the wands are specialized items. I have a few stashed, but they only work with a particular spell. The invocations are in a kind of a secret language, you also need to have some specific items or substances to cast a spell, and to make the proper gestures." He smiled, looking at the ceiling, scratching the back of his head. "I guess that might be your first actual lesson. The components of a spell."

Asuka's eyes sparkled. "From the beginning, Third."

Shinji raised his right index finger. "First, we need to set a few rules. I don't want any misunderstandings later." He began counting with his fingers. "Respect. Both to me and the Art. You will always use your magic for a purpose. Not to show off, not to bully anybody, no silly stuff. And you will call me Sempai when I am showing you the basics."

She arched an eyebrow. "Not Sensei?"

"No. I will just show you the basics. Once I know you're on your way, I'll grant you access to a better source."

"Okay, agreed."

"Two. Secrecy. Not a single word of this to any other person, without my express and unequivocal approval. That includes Hikari and Misato. Understood? The only exception is a case of life or death. Nothing less."

"As if they would believe me." Asuka blew a lock of hair from her face.

"Three. Dedication. Once you start, you must keep on working and improving. The best magic users develop their own spells and magical items."

Her eyes sparkled. "Like the ring you gave me? Did you make it?"

"Hum... No. My friends and I got it from a treasure hoard." A flicker of disappointment flashed in her eyes.

"Fourth. Discretion. This is a power no one else has on this planet, as far as I can tell. We must be extremely discreet whenever we use magic. I have no desire of being vivisected. Especially by You Know Who."

"So you have read the books!"

"What?"

She laughed. "The Harry Potter books! That's how the villain in the books is called! You-Know-Who."

Shinji waved a hand. "Kinda dumb name, but then, I hadn't even heard of the books until today." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, I meant Commander Ikari and/or Dr. Akagi."

"Your Father?" Her eyes opened wide in surprise.

"Only biological." Anger flashed on Shinji's eyes, and his right fist snapped close. "The bastard dumped me on a train station just after my mother van-... after she died. I was barely four years old. I still have nightmares about that. I will keep calling him Father when in public." His voice was cold. Scary, even. "But I will never acknowledge him as my blood anymore. That visit to my mother's grave was the last one I looked for him."

For some reason, that angry look thrilled Asuka in the deepest of her heart. But also chilled her blood.

Shinji recovered his cool. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply a couple of time before he relaxed again. "Sorry. Sensitive subject. I guess it's the same for you."

She nodded minutely. "You know? About my mother? " There was both anger and fear in her voice.

"No, but I can guess a lot. The way you never talk about your family. How you clam up when people at school talks about their fathers. Your expression when you told me your mother used to read you those books. And..." He stared at the ceiling and sighed, there was a sad look in his eyes as he spoke. "You talk in your sleep. Back when we were on the synch training to fight the Seventh Angel. You had a nightmare, and... I heard you."

"I don't want to talk about that. B-back to the lesson, Th-... Sempai?"

He breathed deeply, again, "Right. Back to the lesson. Fifth, Obedience. Obey my orders whenever it concerns to magical training. There's a potential danger to magic. I don't want any magical accidents we can avoid. You will practice on your free time only if you can obey all the rules and I tell you it is safe to do so. For your and others' well being. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

"This is potentially a game changer for us. I think I can use my magic from the entry plug. I haven't tested it yet. But if I," he shook his head, correcting himself, looking deeply into her eyes, "and eventually, We, are able to do so; we will have a great advantage."

The redheaded pilot snorted. "I just imagined Unit-01 pulling plushie rabbits from a top hat."

Shinji smiled back at her. "By the Abyss! You got me imagining it too!" He facepalmed as he laughed, dissipating the tension. "And boinking the Angels on the head with it!"

A few moments later, he composed himself, "Ahem." He coughed into his fist. "Okay, Components. There are three kinds of components to a spell. Not all spells need all three, and some magic users can cast spells without one or the other, but it is very hard to do."

"Can you give me an example? Now?"

He looked around. "Sure, just give me a minute. Let me get the components first." He lit a paper on the stove, and let it burn on one of Misato's ashtrays, while keeping another in the way of the smoke. "You're aware I only know Japanese and a little bit of English, right?" She nodded, curious about what he would do. "There's a spell that lets the user to understand any language, both spoken and written, for a while. Comprehend Languages."

"You know it, then."

He smirked. "Oh, yes. Very useful. And you can cast it discreetly if you already have the material components at hand. They are very easy to obtain, just a pinch of soot and another of simple salt." With his fingers, he collected the soot accumulated on the ashtray on the palm of his left hand. Then he took the salt shaker and added a little amount, mixing it with the soot. "and before you ask, I have absolutely no idea of why these particular components let you understands other language."

Once he was satisfied with the mix, he said, "I'll need you to say anything you want in German. Actually, if you have any written stuff in German at hand it would be helpful."

"Wait a minute." She almost ran to her bedroom, and returned with a book.

Shinji examined the thick book she handed him. "Good. I have no idea of what's written there. And the illustrations are quite… beyond my knowledge. Even better. " He whispered some strange words, contorted the fingers of his right hand in a weird gesture, and the soot and salt mix on his hand vanished in a little puff of smoke. There was no residue left. "Go ahead."

"(There is a little hammer flying around your fishes.)"

"That makes absolutely no sense. There's a little hammer flying around my fishes? What does that even means?"

"(It means I went for the most non-sensical thing I could think of.)" She laughed.

"Oh, I see. Good thinking. Now, something written."

"(Here you go.)" She pushed the book at him. He examined the cover.

"Variants in Dispersion of Mutagenic Agents in a Liquid Medium, According to Temperature? What is this?"

"(My college thesis.)"

"Okay, I understand the words, but I have no idea of what they mean!" He laughed.

"(And don't you forget it, I AM a genius, Sempai!)" She put a hand on her chest, preening self-importantly. She reminded Shinji of Enid, whenever the sphinx had stumped the party with a particularly clever riddle.

He smiled warmly at her. "Well. Back to the actual lesson. Comprehend Languages is a very basic spell. Level 1, in fact. It has Verbal, Somatic and Material components. That means that to cast it, you need an invocation, a gesture or a series of gestures, and physical ingredients. As you saw, soot and salt."

"(Can you teach it to me? I still cannot read all the kanji.)"

"Let's start with something easier. A level 0 spell. How about Light?" Shinji took a little box out from his pocket. He handed an insect to Asuka. She took it with some reluctance.

"What do I do with that bug?"

"The Material Component for Light is a firefly. They are easy to get."

"Ugh... Well..." she gulped. "I guess I can handle this... little... dead... bug..."

They spent the next forty minutes on the lesson.

* * *

 ** _An Incomplete Subway Tunnel_**

 ** _Early Afternoon_**

Six short figures huddled together in a corner. It was a good place to stay. It was warm and dry.

The goblins collected some junk the day before, and wer busy hitting, folding and sharpening the pieces. By the end of the day, the Tunnel Sneakers would have several nice, new dogslicers to use. The longshanks had been to many for them to dare attacking them without an overwhelming numeric superiority and sharp weapons on their side.

They giggled when they alloted their work. Yes! There was a dogslicer for each of them, and even two more!

* * *

 ** _Author Notes_** :

The Harry Potter books began to be published back in 1997, the series went on until the final book was published in 2007. For my purposes, the series of books was actually completed in the EVAverse, although delayed several years by Second Impact. Say, three years. So Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows would have been published in 2010, instead of 2007. The movies do not exist in the EVAverse, as the first one was released back in 2001, the production would probably had been interrupted by Second Impact.

Kyoko would have had access to the series in the German translations, (Harry Potter and The Sorceror's Stone was published in German in 1998), and read them to Asuka until her accident in Unit-02. Meaning that the last one Asuka remembers is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, published in German in 2000. (If I'm reading the German Wikipedia articles correctly. If not, please excuse my error.)

By the time Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was published in Gernamy, Kyoko had already had her accident in Unit-02.

Also, the plushie bunny being used to boink somebody in the head was inspired by _Once More with Feeling_ , By _Crazy-88_ ; one of my favorite Evangelion fanfics. However, in that story, it was Asuka hitting Shinji on the head with his own stuffed animal (it's not mentioned what kind of animal it is), back when they were still a pair of toddlers.

Although incomplete, _Once More with Feeling_ is a great read.


	6. Wait, What? - Oncoming Storm

_**Tokyo-3 Arcana  
**_ _ **Chapter 6  
Wait, What? / Oncoming Storm**_

* * *

 **Please Read and Review**. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm doing wrong (to correct it).

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3, Horaki Household (Guest Room)  
Monday, Morning**_

Limiry rose from a deep sleep, stretching her arms and legs. The previous days had been invigoratingly strange. Hikari had loaned her a pajama set that had belonged to Nozomi, until the girl had outgrown it. The cloth it was made of was a wonder! Soft and warm as nothing she had ever tried on. Limiry decided to get some bolts of the cloth, and comission a whole wardrobe of clothes. Maybe with some unicorns. No, no! Butterflies! It would surely please Desna.

Limiry jumped down from the bed, enjoying the feeling of the wooden floor on the sole of her feet. She picked up some playing cards from the floor. A welcome gift from the youngest Horaki sister. Nozomi herself had stayed with Limiry about half an hour past her normal bedtime, playing several games she had stashed in her room, mostly card games.

The gnome had enjoyed those games immensely. She had never had any idea that simple cardboard sheets could have such variety in form and rules. Being told that each player could have their own deck of cards, and modify them at length before sitting down to play had been quite the experience. Vaguely, Limiry remembered she had once played with a Harrow deck some time before arriving Tokyo-3, but couldn't remember the exact circumstances. No memory at all of where, when, or even with whom she had played with. What she could remember was that each Harrow deck was exactly the same as any other deck, allowing for variations in design and quality, but the cards themselves were the same.

She shrugged. What was important was the here and now.

To begin with…

Breakfast!

Delicious smells filtered into the guest's room, and Limiry began to salivate, despite these smells being from foods she had never tasted!

Even better!

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-03, Katsuragi Apartment (Not Exactly),  
Monday, (Very) Early Morning**_

"So, is she ready?"

"Almost. I showed her the steps to the _Light_ spell, and she almost got it at the end. We will keep at it after school. If everything goes as I expect, she will master a few zero level spells by the end of the week."

"Good! I can barely wait!" A soft thumping sound filled the room.

Shinji smiled. "I bet she will be casting _Light_ tomorrow at most. Probably later today. She's very eager to learn."

"Best kind of apprentice, kid."

"Well… I must go. Breakfast and lunch won't prepare themselves."

"Only because you won't use magic to do it."

"There's that; I admit it. But I have my reasons to do it the regular way. First, Misato. I don't want her to know about magic, and more important, I happen to like cooking. I find it relaxing."

"Ah, to each their own. My tastes are much simpler, you know."

"And easy to prepare, I know. By the way, it's time for your recharge. Any preference?"

"I'm in the mood for a _Shocking Grasp_ , if you have one."

"Sure. _Baish agarath_." Shinji rubbed his hands together. When he separated them, a coruscating trace of electricity connected them to each other, bathing his face and torso with a blue-white glow.

* * *

 ** _First Municipal Junior High School_**  
 ** _Next to the Gym, Lunch Reccess._**

"Guys, you're not gonna believe me!" Kensuke beamed with excitement. But before he could say more, the PA System blared an announcement. "Student Toji Suzuhara, to the Principal's Office immediately. Toji Suzuhara, to the Principal's Office, please."

Toji closed his bento, well… actually, Hikari's, but he had been lucky once more. Hikari had prepared to much food and shared it with him. "Oh, man, just when I was about to begin! Damn!" he mumbled.

"What did you do?" Kensuke opened his own bento, and began to pick on his food.

"Nothing! I've been a model student!" Toji held his hands up, protesting innocence.

"Maybe it's something old they have just found out." Kensuke offered while Toji stood up.

"Then they would have called you to, Kensuke. No way I would be the only one."

"True that." Kensuke nodded. "I'll tell you my news later. Now scram, or you might get into trouble!" Kensuke made shooing movements.

Meanwhile, Shinji kept silence, his brain was already running through the possibilities _.' Why Toji? Why now? Why not Kensuke too?'_ He needed more information, but he had already decided he didn't like this, not one single bit. He would have to ask Toji later.

While his jock friend departed, Kensuke turned back to Shinji. "Pal, something strange happened when I was camping."

Shinji opened his own bento and started to eat. Between mouthfuls, he listened to his friend. "So, did you find an army hiding in the woods?"

"Nope, a woman!" He smiled as if he had revealed the secret of the ages.

"Really? Another camper?"

"Let me start at the beginning. I was picking up my stuff yesterday morning, when a strange woman came down from the hill, carrying a big axe." He held his hands apart a respectable distance, showing Shinji the size of the axe. "I thought it was strange, as she wore some kind of leather clothes, and rings and jewels in her hair."

'… _That rings a bell…'_ Shinji thought; he nodded, and Kensuke continued.

"She's obviously not from around here, but she must have been raised in Japan, she speaks perfect Japanese, has a slight accent, but it's not as obvious as Asuka's. What's weird is that she had no idea of what Pocky is. She thought it was some kind of religious offering." Kensuke scratched the back of his head.

"What kind of accent?"

"Kinda guttural, but not German-like. Anyway, she lets me see her axe. It's a work of art! Every square centimeter of it, except for the actual edge, it's worked with all kinds of decorations! It must be worth a fortune! And it's not just for cosplay, she demonstrated with a piece of paper. It's even sharper than a scalpel! And she told me she had cut a tree just the past evening."

' _Yup. It does ring a bell.'_ Shinji looked into Kensuke's eyes. "Short and wide? Very long hair, braided?"

"Braided, yes! How did you know it?"

"Lucky guess. You didn't say she was taller than you. I know you like tall women, so you would have mentioned that. If the axe was as heavy as you implied, she would have to be quite strong, therefore, muscular. And you mentioned rings on her hair, usually, people who uses hair rings also braids their hair, although some prefer dreadlocks. Dreadlocks are less common, though." He shrugged humbly.

Kensuke shot him an incredulous look, still smiling. "Really? Who are you? Shinji Holmes?"

"Nope. But I like the way that sounds, Dr. Kensuke Watson." Shinji mimicked putting a curved pipe in his lips.

Both laughed, although Shinji was starting to get worried. _'This complicates things, I need to talk to that woman. If I am right, she's actually a dwarf. What could a dwarf be doing here on Earth?'_

"Hey, Kensuke, I would like to speak to her. She sounds like an interesting person."

"She is! I helped her get a room at Mrs. Hayabusha's Inn. I had to pay for it, but she gave me this to pay me back for my help!" Kensuke produced a small ring from his pocket, and put it on Shinji's hand.

The pilot examined it carefully. "It's very beautiful." He looked at it carefully, closing an eye. ' _I will need a magnifying glass to see the finest details, but such attention to detail is either elven or dwarven. The designs are very dwarven-like, geometric shapes instead of organic.'_

Kensuke kept on talking. "She also gave me a handful of these, I need to check how much they are worth." He put a couple of gold coins in Shinji's hand. "I'm going to check that after school."

The weight alone told Shinji the coins were almost certainly made of real gold, but he didn't recognize the minting. "Gold coins? Who uses gold coins these days?"

"No idea, I think these really are for cosplay, but if that's so, she really went the extra mile making them. How much do you think I could get for them?"

"A lot. But do not try to sell them as coins. On second thought, don't try to sell them."

"But I promised I would exchange them for her! She doesn't know the city."

"I will buy them. But I want to talk to her first." Shinji's face was absolutely serious, no hint of a joke there. "Can we meet her today?"

"I guess so."

Right then, the bell rang, and both picked up their stuff to go back to the classroom.

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-03, Abandoned Warehouse,  
Same Time**_

A hobo looked for a place to sleep it off. Even with all the advances in the design, construction and operation of Tokyo-3, it was almost inevitable that a small percentage of the population would eventually fall into poverty, and even misery.

One of those unfortunate individuals had had a very long night, he had found a full bottle of high quality sake, and polished in a few hours. Now, the hangover was making itself felt in a pounding way inside his head, the bright light of the sun wasn't helping him in any way.

He stumbled into a door, and to his surprise, it opened with barely any effort, as the lock had rusted through, thanks to a water drip that fell directly on the padlock. Smiling, the man entered the place, clumsily walking inside.

His erratic steps took him into the warehouse's main room, a very spacious place indeed, cool and dry. It was also quite clean, although the man wasn't in any condition to notice that.

He dragged himself towards an old couch, and let himself fall into it- Turning around a couple of times, he got himself comfortable, and promptly fell in a deep sleep.

From above, eight black eyes watched him with interest.

The giant spider that had claimed the warehouse as its lair descended slowly from the center of its web, hamging head down from a thread of spider silk. Slowly, it skittered towards the hobo, walking silently on its eight long, black legs.

The man stirred a little, and the spider stopped.

Once the man started to snore, the spider resumed its way.

The man would never awaken, and no one ever missed him. That day, the spider fed well enough to grow even bigger.

The creature looked for a nice, secluded place, and soon, it was busily discarding its exoskeleton.

* * *

 ** _First Municipal Junior High School_**  
 ** _2-A Classroom, Lunch Reccess (A Few Minutes Before)._**

"Asuka? Can I talk to you a while?"

The german raised girl was about to bit on a delightful morsel from the bento Shinji had prepared. "Huh? Hum, sure, Hikari." She put the food back into the bento, and picked up her stuff. "At the roof?"

"Yes! I have to tell someone and I know I can trust you." Hikari was quite nervous about whatever she wanted to talk about, Asuka noted. The gears in her brain began to turn.

The redhead pilot raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.

Once on the roof of the school, Hikari looked around, making sure no other students were already there.

"Okay, Hikari, spill." Asuka sat on a corner, readying her food, while Hikari did the same.

"Well, I'm not sure where to begin. I have a new tenant at home."

Asuka rolled her eyes. "Tell me it's not Jock Stooge, please."

Hikari's face blushed beet-red. She looked sharply at Asuka. "NO! Why did you even think of that?"

"C'mon Hikari. Even Shinji knows you're sweet on him, and he is thicker than Unit-02's armor. ' _Toji, hi! Can you help me with this? I made too much food for my family._ '," Asuka was surprisingly good at mimicking Hikari's voice, and even her body language. She continued, "that is as big a hint as I have ever seen. Even Baka Shinji would have caught it by now. Only Jock Stooge can miss on a hint of that size."

Hikari seemed to be about to choke. "R-r-really?"

"Oh, yes. And Shinji says he likes you back. The idiot can't keep his eyes from you when he thinks nobody is watching. Kinda cute, in the grossest way possible."

"Then why hasn't he..?"

"Because you two are a pair of fools! You're _too_ subtle, and he doesn't even know what _subtle_ is. In your place, I would already have done something very direct!"

"I know…" Hikari averted her eyes.

Asuka glared at her. "What do you mean?"

Suddenly, the normally very self-assured Class Rep didn't know what to do with her hands, She settled on wringing the hem of her skirt, "I… um… Mr. Kaji…"

Asuka rubbed her temples. "Yessss… I see." She shook her head, a bit confused. Her heart was betraying her at times. She still held Kaji as the epitome of what a man should be; but since Shinji's return from whatever other world the Twelfth Angel had sent him; and even more, since they had actually talked, the Third Child was occupying more and more time in her thoughts.

"Look, let's not speak about that, okay? I have a lot to do." She picked a piece of fish with her chopsticks, and bit on it. She closed her eyes to enjoy better the rich flavors on the food. Wherever Shinji had been, he had brought some very interesting ways to prepare food, that was for sure. And five years of practice too. "What made you drag me up here?"

Relieved, Hikari continued. "Well, it's my tenant." She lowered her voice conspiratorially. "She can do magic, Asuka. Real magic!"

Asuka's eyes shot open, and she began to cough, trying to dislodge the piece of food that she had almost inhaled into her lungs. Scared, Hikari hit Asuka's back several times.

Desperate, Asuka punched herself on the diaphragm, dislodging the obstacle. She gasped and breathed deeply several times. She had to wipe a thin trail of saliva from her chin.

"Asuka! Are you okay?" Hikari's eyes were full of worry. Asuka nodded a couple of times while she recovered her breath.

"Magic?" she hissed, looking intensely into Hikari's eyes, trying to find if her friend was joking. She found no hint of a lie or a joke in her eyes. _'If this is true, and she really can do magic, I need to tell Shinji at once.'_ She thought.

"Hikari, have you told anybody else?" Her blue eyes bored on Hikari's brown.

"No, of course not! Who would believe me?" The Class Rep shook her head in negation.

"Good. Start from the beginning." Carefully, she closed the bento, lunch would have to wait.

At that moment, the PA System sounded with an announcement. "Student Toji Suzuhara, to the Principal's Office immediately. Toji Suzuhara, to the Principal's Office, please."

Both Hikari and Asuka turned their heads toward the Principal's Office. It was Hikari who broke the silence. "I hope it's not something bad."

"We will ask Jock Stooge later. Now, tell me what made you think your tenant is any kind of magical mystery girl."

"Well… It was past Friday, after school…"

* * *

Toji didn't arrive for the next period, increasing Shinji's worry.

Hikari interrupted his thought, barking her usual orders as Class Rep. "Stand! Bow! Sit!" Although her tone was the usual, Shinji noticed a little crease on her forehead. ' _Hikari's worried about something_.' he thought.

Before he could even think about that, Asuka tapped on Shinji's shoulder, passing him a folded note. At the first chance he had, he unfolded it discreetly to read the message.

No kanji, simple letterblock, "We need to _talk_. I have news. It's _**urgent**_."

Shinji folded the note back, put it in his shirt pocket; and mouthed the words " _I have news too. And I don't like them a bit._ " back to his apprentice. Asuka nodded slowly, careful not to attract the teacher's attention..

* * *

 _ **Author Notes:**_

The equivalent to Tarot cards in Pathfinder is the Harrow deck. Instead of Major and Minor Arcana, the Harrow cards are set according to both the six statistics of a character (Dexterity, Strength, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma), and the two axis of Alignment (Law/Chaos, Good/Evil and Neutral in both axis) and their nine combinations; resulting on a deck made of 54 cards, with no Jokers. Each card corresponds to both a Stat and an Alignment. There are no duplicates, each card is unique.

When doing a reading, the person formulates a question, and then takes a card from the set of nine cards that correspond to the closest statistic. For example, asking "Will I do well in my tests at school?" would be covered by Intelligence. That card sets the tone for the reading itself, and it is incorpored to the whole deck before shuffing it.

Interpretation is tricky, open and flexible; as it should be.

Paizo sells a deck of Harrow cards, with complete instructions for readings that can be applied to Player Characters. The _Curse of the Crimson Throne_ Adventure Path (a campaign made of six adventures) even features ways to incorporate readings into the adventure itself.

Now, on a personal level, let me tell you, it is quite interesting (read, fun) to use the Harrow deck to make readings at a party… If you are any good at being mysterious and dramatic you'll have a gaggle of women begging for a reading in no time at all!

Just be sure to warn each and every one that this is only a game.

(And let me know how did it go!)

* * *

I haven't forgotten the giant amoeba. We will see what's going on with it next chapter. And also check on what else has come from Golarion through the Shadow portals. There have been more arrivals to the Tokyo-3 area during the weekend.

* * *

The _Baish agarath_ phrase has absolutely no meaning from Greyhawk or any other D&D setting (AFAIK). I just made it up. Although, let's just say that _Baish agarath_ is the Verbal Component for _Shocking Grasp_. Originally, I though it could be the Oerth equivalent to " _Bon appetit_ ", but as I was writing it, I changed my mind.

* * *

Ah, a little extra note, Big Finish Productions has released three series of audiodramas based on Pathfinder Adventure Paths. Especifically, _Rise of the Runelords, Mummy's Mask,_ and _Curse of the Crimson Throne_. One of the main characters in all three series is Ezren, the iconic wizard, played by Trevor Littledale. As magic needs some kind of cue for the public to know whenever a spell is cast, the audios feature an invocation to signal any spell cast. They are quite consistent, and Mr. Littledale's acting is quite convincing. He really sounds like a wizard.

If you have the chance, give them a try, they are very entertaining. Each episode lasts about two hours, except for the six parts of _Rise of the Runelords_ , with close to an hour each. This series was the first one to be released, and somewhat of an experiment, as Big Finish's usual fare is Doctor Who. Their Doctor Who audios are very good, featuring the original actors when possible. Sometimes they are straight audiobooks, other times they are full-cast productions.

The second title for this chapter comes from Doctor Who, The _Oncoming Storm_ is how the Daleks call him, due to his unique capability to throw an amazing amount of monkey wrenches into their carefully laid genocidal plans. And destroy astronomical amounts of Daleks in the process…


	7. Two Short Meetings and a Hard Choice

_**Tokyo-3 Arcana**_

* * *

 ** _Note_** _, the parenthesis indicate languages other than Japanese, in this case, Dwarventongue.  
 **Please Read and Review.** I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it)._

* * *

 _ **Chapter 7**_

 _ **Two Short Meetings and a Hard Choice**_

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3, Near Makoto Huyga's Apartment  
Sunday, (Very) Late Night**_

Lieutenant Makoto Hyuga had a bad night. Sometime after he had gone to bed, there had been some kind of fight in the street behind his building. It had been loud and violent. The police had been called, and arrived amidst sirens and flashing lights. At the end, nothing had been resolved. Whoever had caused such a ruckus, had left the scene well before the police arrived. Makoto Huyga buried his head between the futon and a couple of pillows. It would be useless…

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3, GeoFront, Central Dogma  
Monday, Morning.  
After NERV Shift Change**_

"Oh, my goodness, Lt. Hyuga! What happened to you?" Tomoyo fussed over the bespectacled bridge bunny, her shift had ended about half an hour before, and awaited impatiently for Lt. Hyuga to relieve her. Her annoyance disappeared when she saw him clearly. He was dirty, the right sleeve of his uniform was slightly torn at the shoulder, he sported a big bruise and a couple of small cuts over the left side of his face, and the left side of his spectacles was so cracked it was a miracle he could see anything.

Makoto sat heavily on his chair, holding a hand over his belly. "I got mugged." He winced a little as he sat.

While Tomoyo looked for a first aid kit, Shigeru Aoba examined Makoto's face. "Man, what size was the gorilla who used your face as a punching bag?"

"It was the biggest and ugliest guy I've ever seen. He must have been about seven feet tall and three feet thick at the chest! And he stank to high heaven. Three weeks old grime, and some kind of musk, mixed with rancid sweat. The foulest breath I had ever the displeasure of facing, too. Like something rotten had died in there. Believe me, a gorilla would have been an improvement."

Tomoyo had returned with the kit, and began to apply a cotton ball soaked on alcohol on Makoto's cuts while he winced, trying to endure the sting as best as possible.

Makoto winced again, as Tomoyo applied some disinfectant to his wounds. "Keep still! We don't want this to get infected, do we?" The brown-haired bridge bunny admonished.

"Sorry. That stings! Ow!"

"So, don't keep us in suspense, man. What happened?"

"I was walking to the train station, and as I passed in front of an alley, somebody pulled me by the sleeve, I almost tumbled down right there, but the guy just made me turn around, and punched me in the face and then in the stomach!"

Shigeru nodded, while Tomoyo took Makoto's glasses away and shone a flashlight on his eyes, looking at them through a magnifying glass. "Well, it seems your eyes are fine. I feared a piece of glass could have hit your eyes."

"Oh, no; my glasses broke when they hit the floor. That guy punches like a bear!"

Satisfied with the results, Tomoyo put the first aid kit back in its place, flagging it for replacement of some components. "Glad to see you're okay." Shily, she patted Makoto's hand, while, behind her, Shigeru smirked at Makoto's blush.

"But that's not the weird part."

"But, wait, there's more?" Shigeru's eyebrows shot up as he quoted some old advertisement campaign he had seen in the USA.

"Shut up and let me talk." At Aoba's silence, Makoto continued.

"So, I was on the floor, stunned by the punch, no glasses on, I can barely see the guy; so I decided to play Sleeping Beauty; so if I though I was in real danger, I could have a chance to attack by surprise. He grabs me by the jacket, checks my belt first, and then empties my pockets on the floor, growling 'These humies are too soft…'. I've been called several names, but never 'humie'; I have no idea what that means. Anyway, the guy just opens my wallet and empties it on the floor too!"

"What?" both Tomoyo and Aoba asked in disbelief.

"I swear he did! He took all the coins I had, even my lucky token I got at the arcade when I was a kid! Then he just drops me to the floor and leaves! I waited a couple of minutes to be sure he was gone, gather everything and here I am, although I missed my train. That's why I came here so late. I'll have to get new glasses and replace the uniform, but at least I have most of my money."

"Listen, do me a favor and go ask Dr. Akagi to check you out. I'll stay while you go." Tomoyo ordered him.

"But… your shift just ended. "

"So? I get some overtime if you get medical leave. And if you do, it just save me the trip back here."

"Don't argue with the lady, pal. Just take her to lunch later, okay?"

Both Tomoyo and Makoto blushed crimson while Shigeru smiled.

Maya heard the last part of their conversation as she entered Central Dogma. "Sorry, Dr. Akagi is out. She just got a report from the Marduk Institute."

Makoto gasped. "They found the Fourth?"

Maya nodded. "And you won't believe who he is."

* * *

 _ **First Municipal Junior High School  
2-A Classroom, End of the School Day**_

"Shinji, what in the Seven Hells name is happening? Hikari told me her new tenant can do magic. She healed a twisted ankle Hikari got while fleeing from a gang of little but nasty guys."

Shinji looked ay the ceiling, ordering his thoughts. "And Kensuke told me he met somebody during his weekend camping trip. From his description, it should be a dwarf. A female."

"I don't like this. I thought you were the only one who came from that other world."

"Oerth." Shinji nodded. "I need to talk to both of them. Be sure of who they are and from where they came from. If there is a way for people from Oerth to come here, then it might be dangerous. Some of the people and creatures there are quite nasty, and this world doesn't have any defenses against magic or monsters. Can you imagine the damage a Beholder could cause?" He shuddered.

"A what?"

"Nasty pieces of work. Imagine a creature with spherical shape, bigger than a beach ball,with a big eye in the middle, ten eyestalks on top of its body, and a sharp toothed mouth that could swallow you whole. Each eye has a different magic effect. They are greedy, paranoid, power-hungry, utterly amoral."

"Could you kill one of those? With magic, I mean?"

"Nope. Not alone, and not without stacking the chances in my favor with a whole deck of aces up my sleeve. One of their eyes has an anti-magic ray and other has a disintegration ray. They are damnably dangerous to fight against." Shinji shook his head. "What did Hikari tell you about her tenant?"

Asuka began to count with her fingers, each piece of Hikari's description of her strange guest was marked with a finger. "Short, about a meter tall, yellow skin, neon pink hair. Delicate features, she looks almost like a tiny woman, around 20 years old. Strange fashion sense, and she is apparently a priestess of a god or goddess called Desna. She acts like a small child in several ways. Energetic, playful, she gets along very well with Hikari's little sister, Nozomi; respectful to Mr. Horaki, mostly ignores Kodama, but not like she's hostile to her. They met past Friday, after school."

"Hmm… I'll have to talk to her, but I think it would look somewhat strange if I am the one asking."

"Hey, I could go with her, check this mysterious tenant, and then tell you what I can find out."

"I don't like it…" Shinji tapped on his chin, thinking. "I don't want you to risk yourself, not yet." Asuka growled. "Stop that." Shinji patted her shoulder. "You are not ready. Not yet."

Asuka turned her face away, crossing her arms. "When, then? "

"You need to have at least a few offensive spells at your disposal. I think I'll have to accelerate your classes."

Asuka smiled like a shark. "Oh, yes! When do we begin?"

* * *

 _ **Mrs. Hayabusha's Inn  
Later that day.**_

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Hayabusha. Is Miss Rusilka here? My friend, Shinji Ikari here, would like to talk with her." Kensuke introduced his friend to the old innkeeper. Both bowed deeply towards the old woman.

"She's at the back, boys. She asked permission to work in the garden. She has been hammering something fierce all day long, and most of yesterday. I don't know where did she get those little chisels, but look!" The old woman showed Kensuke a pebble.

"A stone?"

"Look closer."

Kensuke did, and realized the pebble had been intrincately carved with both celtic knots and something that looked like angular letters. He passed the pebble to Shinji, who looked at it intensely. _'I don't recognize the runes...'_ , he thought.

"Go, go. Tell her it's time to eat. She shouldn't be working so long without at least eating something."

"I will, Mrs. Hayabusha. Come, Shinji."

Both boys bowed to the owner of the house, and went to the garden.

"Hello, Ms. Burningforge! I'd like to introduce you to the friend from school I told you about. This is Shinji Ikari."

"Well met, Young Ikari. Kensuke speaks highly of you."

Shinji hit his left shoulder with his right fist and dug into his dwarven language lessons. "(Well met, Ms. Burningforge. May your forebears look upon your work and smile.)"

Rusilka's eyebrows shot up and answered in kind, putting her little hammer and chisel down on the table. "(And may your children look upon yours and aspire to do better.)" She smiled widely, and switched back to Japanese. "I didn't expect to find a dwarvenfriend here. This city is quite strange. I haven't seen a single dwarf here since Mr. Aida showed me the place."

"I fear you may be the only one. This world hasn't had a dwarf around ever, I think." Shinji sat on a garden chair, while Kensuke did the same a moment later.

"Really?" She looked dejected.

"Wait, wait, wait. Dwarvenfriend? Shinji, is there something you haven't told me?"

"Of course there is. There's a lot I haven't told you. Depending on Ms. Burningforge's opinion, I might tell you something."

"Go ahead, young manling. It might help me understand what's happening."

"First, I need to ask you to keep what we speak here a secret, Kensuke."

"Why the mystery?"

"Several reasons, but the main one is Caution. We don't know what happened to bring Ms. Burningforge to Earth. "

"C'mon, Shinji! Are you trying to tell me she's from another world?"

"And another race, " Shinji looked at the dwarf, asking for her permission. She nodded, curious. "She's not human, she's part of a race older than man. She's a dwarf."

"Sure, she's a bit short, but she's not a dwarf."

Shinji sighed. "Kensuke, pay attention. Dwarfism among humans is a medical condition. People with that condition don't get to grow as tall as they should, and many have deformities. A member of the dwarven race is a perfectly healthy individual."

Rusilka laughed, her laugh was deep and full, it reminded Shinji of a waterfall, a big one. "He's right. A dwarf is stronger and has more endurance than a human. We work the stone and the metal. We live below the earth you walk on and inside the mountains. Our memories are long and our patience runs deep."

Kensuke still didn't believe him. It took the both of them to convince the bespectacled boy they were serious.

By the end of their talk, Shinji had established a tentative alliance with the dwarven female. And found out that she had no clear memories of where did she come from. She could remember many things, mainly techniques to work metal and stone, tactics, combat. Stuff to do. Her family and very few close friends. People very close to her.

But beyond that, her memory was full of holes. She didn't remember the name of her ruler, what stronghold she had grown in, the borders of their domain.

Shinji exchanged a few gold coins for Rusilka. Using the funds he now knew he could access by using his NERV ID card. It was enough to pay for a few weeks in Mrs. Hayabusha's Inn. The old lady was delighted to have Rusilka at her house. The dwarf was the very image of a model guest. She was quiet, considerate, helpful and respectful.

Part of it was due to the dwarves long ingrained respect for age and experience. And part just because Rusilka was still a young dwarf, eager to please her host.

As they were getting ready to go back to Misato's place, Shinji examined the coins. According to the dwarf, they were common use coins from the region, standard coinage. Shinji didn't recognize the mint. And he had long experience with most coinage from the Flanaess.

' _And I still have to talk to Hikari's guest...'_ he thought _._

* * *

 _ **Suzuhara's House.  
Toji's Bedroom**_

Toji Suzuhara was not a deep thinker, usually. He mostly reacted to whatever happened around him. However, this time, he wasn't ready to answer the proposal the lady from NERV had brought to him. He had been there since he had been given leave to go home during the late period at school. He had gone directly home from schoool, and was now sitting on his father's favorite chair, the one he liked to sit on whenever the head of the house needed to give some matter a long, deep session of thinking. Toji found it really did help him to think about it.

Piloting an Evangelion...

Who would have thought he would be selected..?

Toji, unlike his short friend, Kensuke, was very well aware of the risks that entailed. He remembered how Shinji had broken down after the fight with the Fourth Angel, he had seen with his own eyes how much the damage the Evangelion had received had hurt his friend.

On the other hand, accepting the offer would be a big help with Sakura's hospital bills. His sister had been gravely injured during the Third Angel's rampage. And the bills were eating the Suzuhara's savings very quickly. By the end of the year, Toji's father's savings would be gone.

Thinking of his sister focused his decision. In a way, it was his fault she had been injured. He had dismissed the first scream of the evacuation sirens. Had he obeyed, they would have arrived to the shelter on time, instead of being trapped on a building that collapsed partially over them. He had been the lucky one, a girder protected him from the worst of the damage, but Sakura's legs were broken in several places, with some nerve damage. She would need months, if not years, of therapy to walk again.

He needed to talk to his father. Still, he had already decided.

* * *

 _ **Author Notes.**_

Makoto's mugger came from Golarion too. An orc. His bizarre behavior is easy to explain. People from Oerth has no idea what bills and credit cards are or how to use them. They don't have either. All transactions are done with coins or ingots or jewels. Wallets are rare, and mostly used to carry documents.

'Humies' is the word orcs and orks (space orcs) have for humans in Warhammer and Warhammer 40,ooo. I'm not sure how the orcs in Pathfinder call humans, but I do like the idea of some cross-pollination between settings...

Ah, manling is how the dwarves in Wrahammer Fantasy call the humans. There used to be a space race equivalent to dwarves a long time ago, the Squats, but due to low sales, they were discontinued from the line, and were said to have been exterminated by Tyranids (basically, a space locust swarm, with a big influence from the Alien movies). Currently, there is a Squat in the Necromunda line, I have no idea if GW has any plans to reintroduce the Squats as an army in WH40K.


	8. Divine Intervention

_**Tokyo-3 Arcana**_

* * *

 _ **Please Read and Review.**_ _I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it)._

* * *

 _ **Chapter 8**_

 _ **Divine Intervention**_

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3 Horaki Household.  
Later That Same Day, 4:55 P.M.**_

"Hi, Asuka! Shinji!" Hikari greeted her friends from school at the door of her house. She was very much surprised by Shinji's presence. As far as she knew, he hadn't ever even walked home any of the school girls in his class, except once, visiting Ayanami to give her the homework after one of her absences; and he seemed very reticent to talk about his visit, despite the insistent badgering from the other two Stooges.

"Hey, Hikari!" Asuka returned the greeting, and moved aside for Shinji.

"Hello, Hikari. I'm sorry to drop by without notice," he said, with a voice that seemed strangely changed. It had lost most of his hesitance to speak, "Asuka told me about your new tenant, I would really like to speak with her, is she here?"

"Hum..." ' _What could Shinji want to talk about with Limiry?_ ' Hikari thought, while she played with her hands for a moment. Until Asuka grabbed her arm.

"Hikari, it is important. Shinji knows." She tightened her grip as she noticed the furrow in Hikari's brow. She shot a quick, _deferential_ look at Shinji, who simply nodded minutely. "He _knows_. He's magical too."

"What?" Hikari almost yelled her question.

"Shh! Not here!" Asuka covered Hikari's mouth with a hand, a moment later, she released her. "We will tell you later; right now, Shinji really needs to speak to your friend."

"O-okay, I'll fetch her." She guided them to the garden at the back of the house, where a nice table sat under the shadow of a tree.

Asuka smiled at Hikari, and turned to Shinji."I'll explain things to Hikari while you two talk, okay?" He nodded once, with an applomb Hikari never had thought possible for him. Asuka's attitude surprised Hikari more than even the news that Shinji had some kind of magical ability. Since when did Asuka even considered _defering_ to Shinji in _anything_?

* * *

Hikari set a teaset on the garden table. "I'll leave you to talk. Nozomi is out in a playdate with a friend from her school, and Kodama is working. Father will come back from work in about an hour."

"Thank you, Hikari." Shinji pulled a seat for Limiry before seating himself. "I don't think this will take long."

Hikari nodded, and was pulled away by Asuka. "C'mon Hikari! I want to show you something."

Once both friends had gone, Shinji poured two teacups, and took a couple of cookies from the plate. All the while looking at Limiry, studying her. "I'll go straight to the point, I need to know who you are, what are you, and what are your intentions to the Hokari family."

Limiry shrank a little on the too big chair. "Sheesh! Relax a little, boy, you'll live longer!" Limiry took her cup, and sipped carefully. She didn't like the boy's attitude. Too tightly wound, indeed.

Shinji's eyes bore into her, like trying to dig out her secrets with mere force of will. Finally, the gnome cleric cracked, "Okay, okay. My name is Limiry Siggari. I came from some other place I can't really remember all that well. I'm a cleric of Desna's, and Hikari and her family are my friends. Hikari offered me a roof to have over my head, and I'm helping her and her family with some chores, _AND_ also blessed the house and its occupants in the name of Desna, to grant them some protection should they need it. That good enough for you?"

Shinji held her gaze for a long time, a very long time; she squirmed unconfortably under his gaze.

Finally, Shinji exhaled. "Yeah. Good enough. For now. Let's be very clear about this. Hikari is a friend of mine. Not very close, I admit it; but she's a friend, and that's very important to me. I won't allow any of my friends to be harmed if I can stop it."

"Yeesh! Intense a bit, boy! You're gonna sprain something if you don't knock it down a few steps."

Shinji shrugged. "Maybe." He sipped from his cup. And changed subject abruptly. "Strange, I'm not familiar with your race."

Limiry's eyebrows shot up. "I'm a gnome. I'd say you should even recognize the pretty color combo I have!"

"A gnome." He repeated after her, toughtfully. Surprise was clear on his face. "A gnome." He repeated again, furrowing his brow. He nodded twice, to himself. "My apologies. You don't really look like any gnome I've met before. The few ones I met didn't have your vibrant coloring. Well, their clothes did, and they wore big, complicated hats."

"Yeah. Males for sure." Limiry shrugged dismissively, playing with one of her ringlets. Everybody knew complicated hair styles were so much better than any old headgear.

Shinji changed subject again. "So, a cleric of Desna? Tell me about him, please." He poured himself a bit more tea. For some reason, Shinji's demeanor went cold as he asked the question. Well... _colder_..

Limiry didn't know the thoughts that were chasing each other in Shinji's mind. So she answered "Her. Desna is a goddess." Limiry pouted a bit.

In the privacy of his mind, Shinji was desperately running down the list of the Oeridian gods and goddesses he knew of. Desna's name didn't ring a bell. The presence of a god on Earth was bad enough. An unknown god was even worse! It meant the playing board was changing, and he needed to get up to date before a disaster came.

The Justicar's rough voice rang clear and strong in Shinji's mind. _'Know your enemy, information is your best weapon.'_ He had said many times. And Shinji was a good pupil to the shaven-headed man.

' _Get them to talk, be attentive, and they will tell you what you need to know. Be charming! Be bold! Play with them if you want!'_ Escalla's clear and playful voice drowned Jus'. The faerie princess especiality was worming out things the enemy didn't want to be known; and she did it with stealth, cunning, guile, charm and a brazen attitute. ' _And the best and most beautiful derriere in the whole of Oerth, don't you forget that, Shinji-chan!_ ' That last imaginary voice was followed closely by Jus' annoyed sigh.

Shinji shook his head to clear his mind, waving a hand as if getting rid of some annoying insect. Sometimes Escalla's force of personality overwhelmed his mental discipline.

He composed himself, turned up the charm as Escalla had taught him. "My apologies. It seems my knowledge is severely lacking. Please, tell me about her."

Limiry looked at him sideways. The human was kinda rough, but seemed sincere.

"Very well, Desna is the goddess of dreams, travelers, stars, and luck. While the other gods and goddesses created the world, she went to the heavens and created the stars... " she recited. Shinji paid close attention to her story. He needed to know as much as he could about this new goddess.

* * *

"He's a wizard?"

"No. A sorcerer. Not the same thing." Asuka explained. "He told me they use different kinds ofmagic. Or ways to use magic." A proud smile appeared in Asuka's face. "I'm a wizardress in training!"

"Really?"

"Really," Asuka's voice dropped conspiratorially. "Shinji already taught me a spell. Look." She dug in her skirt pockets, and extracted a dead bug.

"Ew!" Hikari recoiled a bit, but her curiosity won in the end. "What's that?"

"A firefly. Look." She stood up, and closed the curtains, the room darkened considerably. She held up the bug in the palm of her left hand, along with a pen she took from Hikari's desk. " _Lumos_!" she said with a smile, contorting her fingers in a strange way. Somehow, the dead insect disappeared, and a soft light spread from the palm of her hand. A second later, the pen glowed like a lantern!

Hikari's jaw dropped.

"Shinji has been teaching me. Who would have thought he had literal magic waiting to awake?"

Hikari took the pen from Asuka's hand. She examined it closely. It shone bright in the darkened room.

Asuka kept talking. "Shinji uses a different word, something that sounds like _Bewgath_. It didn't work for me, until I had the idea of using the invocation from the old Harry Potter books! And then it worked like... a... charm!" She smiled at her awful pun.

Enthusiastically, Hikari grabbed Asuka's hands, dropping the pen to the bed. "This is great! I'm so happy for you!"

Asuka preened self-importantly. "And he said he has some kind of magical object that will teach me more powerful spells! The _Tome of Arcane Knowledge_! With that name, it must be a big book, bound in leather, parchment pages, and metal clasps! Like in the old movies!"

"A teaching book? I'd like to see one!"

"I know! I've been bursting to tell you since Shinji told me I had magic. But he also said it would be dangerous if somebody else knew about it, so I had to keep it secret. But as you already know about magic, he said it's okay to tell you. But I have to ask you to keep it secret too. He will tell you more later. As your friend, I asked him to let you know about things."

"Oh!" it seemed the implications of revealing magic was real were harsher than Hikari had thought before. She had thought it would just lead to some mocking and maybe a bit of bullying in the worst case. But if it worried Asuka, who fought giant monsters for a living and boasted about it...

* * *

A while later, once Asuka had told Hikari everything Shinji had appoved. There was a knock on the door.

Shinji stood outside, with Limiry at his side. Tere was a strange expression on his face, like he had swallowed a lemon. "Hikari, we four need to halve a long talk. Things are getting complicated and possibly dangerous. Tomorrow, after class, okay?"

"Sure. But tomorrow is Kodama´s free day, and she will probably want to stay here with Nozomi."

"At Misato´s then. We go there after school. I´ll take care of the food." He smiled wearily. "I have a recipe I want to try."

"Oh, oh! Is it a dessert? I like berries!" Limiry almost jumped.

"I-I´ll make some cake too."

"YES! BERRIES!" Limiry hugged his legs, almost knocking him down.

* * *

 _ **New Orleans, USA  
3:24 A.M. (local time)**_

"Oh, my! What are you doing so far from home, my child?" The man said, a hand waving away the last wisps of the mist that had appeared in the street a few minutes before.

"I'm lost. I don't know where my mommy is… Can you help me, sir?" the girl looked at him with big, round, _innocent_ , brown eyes. It seemed she was about to cry. She tightened her grip on her brown teddy bear.

The man smiled in the shadows, _'I can't believe it! A girl this young is worth big bucks!'._ Anticipating a good time with his young, oh-so-very-innocent, prey; and later a good pay from some guys he knew, the man extended a hand towards the girl. She put her teddy bear under her left arm, and took the man's hand.

"Let's cut through this alley, we will make better time and maybe find your mommy sooner."

The girl nodded.

The pair walked into the dark alley.

* * *

Next day, the screams of a waitress would startle the whole neighbourhood. The poor girl had a terrible scare when she found the mangled body next to the restaurant dumpster.

The coroner had no idea of what exactly was the cause of death. He couldn't choose between crushing of the ribcage, strangulation with an electric cord, and almost complete exsanguination. The ripped wound on his throat wasn't exactly easy to miss. The larynx had been practically ripped off.

In the end, he simply listed the probable causes in order of speed. The fastest first. After all, a ripped out throat would kill the victim way before the crushing, the strangulation, and the exsanguination.

A look on the face of the victim was enough to put even a long time veteran of the forensic sciences out of his lunch. And considering the many violent deaths he had untangled during his 24 years of service, it was saying something

At least identifying the victim had been easy, the corpse still carried his ID. And the fingerprints just confirmed it. Rudolph "Rubberstamp" Hilliard. A two-bit player in the criminal underworld of New Orleans. 36 years old, and with a list of arrests and minor offenses the length of his arm. A creep by any definition, with so many enemies that it would be a nightmare just to compile a list.

Anyway, he wouldn't be missed by anybody. Whoever had killed him had done the world a small favor.

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3 Horaki Household. (In a way)  
Hikari's Bedroom  
That Same Night, 2:53 A.M.**_

" _My, my! What do we have here? A whole new world and a song that calls me from far away!"_ A feminine voice rang in Hikari's dreams. It was a voice full of curiosity, of hope, of… dreams. Cherished and unrealized dreams. The sing song accent was unfamiliar.

"Hello?" Hikari's dream self asked timidly.

" _Hello, my child! You are so very far from my palace. It is your light that calls me with its song. I see you have met another of my children. She has traveled far, so very far."_ A proud smile could be Heard in the voice.

Hikari's puzzled expression shone brightly in the dreamscape.

" _Your friend, Limiry. She has arrived to your world and she carries my message in her heart. If you want to walk that path, you are very welcome. It is not easy, and it isn't quick; but there are good things awaiting for you."_

"Who are you, exactly?" Hikari felt a strange sense of reality to this dream. Somehow, she knew in the bottom of her heart that this wasn't just a simple dream.

A tall, willowy woman with beautiful butterfly wings the color of saphphire, appeared next to her. A transparent gown flowed around her body, floating in the cool night breeze. She trod lightly on a path that seemed to be made of a slice of the night sky, full of beautiful, shining stars. The winged woman shook her head, and her long black hair twirled around her body. Hikari saw two long ears standing proudly at the sides of the woman's head, like the aelven characters in the anime she liked to watch as a child. The woman fixed her silvery eyes upon Hikari's. And spoke again, _"I am Desna, my child. Lady of Dreams, Stars, Luck and Travel. Your soul calls to me from worlds away! How could I refuse to come and see you? And this is a very special dream for me as well. It is my first dream in a new world."_

Hikari sat on the grass. "I am dreaming this, right? Limiry told me about you, and I'm dreaming you."

" _Ah! You are so very right!"_ she smiled warmly, _"But you are not the only dreamer here. I myself am dreaming you! You are dreaming of me dreaming of you! You have been touched by the fates, my child."_ Desna's hand caressed Hikari's cheek. She felt loved, and protected.

"But, how?" Hikari's brow forrowed with confusion.

" _It doesn't really matter; I am here, you are here. I offer you a choice. Tomorrow, I'll send you a small portent, just so you and Limiry know I am looking over you. She will know it when it happens. Listen to her; and, if you are willing, follow the path that opens before you. But only if you want to. No one is ever forced into my service."_

Hikari nodded. A single tear of joy rolled down her cheek.

Desna's smile dropped a bit. Her voice grew sad. _"But, I must also warn you. Just as your soul and Limiry's called for me, other souls will call for other gods. Some of them are evil and destructive. Your friends will stand by your side to protect this world and its people."_

* * *

 _ **Somewhere in the Sonora Desert, Mexico  
3:24 (local time)**_

A patch of darkness extended unnaturally over a small gully in the terrain. A small whimpering sound corssed the night.

No creature saw the darkness dissipate like dew under the sun, no creature heard any sound.

Afterwards a set of tracks could be found. Starting right in the middle of the sand, three toed feet, belonging to a two-legged creature.

Had anybody been present, they would have described the creature as a thing that looked remotely like a big lizard or a small dinosaur; with green, finely scaled skin, bifurcated tongue, sharp teeth, and several rows of long black spines like a porcupine's. It's long, thin tail snaked in the air. While the head sniffed around, searching for prey.

The creature was thirsty, and only blood would slake that thirst.

* * *

 _ **Author Notes.**_

Shinji seems to be quite hostile to Limiry, especially compared with how he treated Rusilka, but there's a very good reason for that. Limiry is a cleric, a servant of a goddess. Due to a previous experience with a close-minded paladin (look for _By the Job_ , published in Dragon Magazine, issue 271, May 2000), the Justicar's opinion on gods is extremely low. To him, gods are just bullies with power. An attitude shared by Escalla, and eventually, by the rest of the party. Sure, they tend to thread carefully around gods, but also to give them the hot foot whenever they can! Lolth, the drow spider goddess had a couple of nasty clashes with the group. And Toth was utterly humilliated by them. In his own realm, no less!

Interestingly, what happened to Lolth was published at the same time another series of books ( _War of the Spider Queen_ ) dealt with a much more dramatic series of events. For this story, the events on the novels _Descent into the Depths of the Earth_ and _Queen of the Demonweb Pits_ are canon.

Xxxx

The word Asuka mentions for Shinji's _Light_ spell was taken from the Pathfinder audiodramas, by Big finish. Ezren uses a _light_ type spell several times. The name of the spell itself is never mentioned, and it is quite different from Shinji's. To begin with, it is a sudden and very intense burst of light.

I decided on having Asuka changing the word to _Lumos_ to stress the fact that magic on Oerth works a bit different from magic on Earth. Shinji carries with him that form of magic, so it still works for him. Asuka is learning to use Oeridian magic on Earth, so she has to adapt a bit. She will use a mix of Earth and Oerth magic. Any other magic userswill have to use only Earth magic, unless they are taught by Shinji or Asuka themselves. In which case, they will have to use Asuka's method.

Ah, the _Light_ spell could use a small lightbulb instead of a firefly as a material component. The D20 Modern rulebook lists fosphorescent moss and fireflies as possible material components. This little bit of trivia is based on the _Conjure Wife_ novel by Fritz Leiber (highly reccomended! Both the novel itself and the author. His _Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser_ stories are one of the pillars modern fantasy is built. And are the archetypes of the D&D Barbarian and Rogue, respectively). The protagonist of _Conjure Wife_ is married to a witch, and gets involved in a kind of cold-war between witches. At some point, he realizes that the material components the witches use have changed with time. And therefore, magic itself changes and adapts to the times. The example mentioned in the novel is a silver whistle, never blown; it worked well back in ancient Greece, but currently, it has been replaced by the needled of a record player, never used.

Xxxx

Usually, Desna communicates with her faithful through dreams and portents. This time, and only this time, she chose to speak directly. Hikari has been chosen to be her very fisrt follower in a new world, so the meeting had to be 'close and personal '.

xxxx

Why should the Shadow manifest only in Tokyo-3?

It did appear there first, but it is a global event. New Orleans and the Sonora Desert are the first places with Shadow manifestations outside Tokyo-3, but they won't be the only ones.


	9. You ve Been Invited to a Party

_**Tokyo-3 Arcana**_

* * *

 _ **Please Read and Review.**_ _I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it)._

* * *

 _ **Chapter 9**_

 _ **You´ve Been Invited to a Party**_

* * *

 _ **Katsuragi-Ikari-Soryu Apartment  
Friday, Early Morning.**_

Asuka had spent the night with Hikari, probably trying to get as much info as she could from Limiry, now that Shinji considered the gnome cleric posed no immediate danger.

Misato was gone, and the Third Child had a sinking felling, like he had a lead weight in the stomach.

A pilot had been chosen. It was clear Misato knew more than she had been able to say. Kensuke had interrupted her just when she was about to tell him who had been chosen!

Normally, she would have stayed to at least say the name, but between Kensuke's pleas to be Unit-03's pilot, and the arrival of the chaffeur sent to drive her to Matsushiro, Misato had to leave the pair behind and hurry down.

Shinji breathed deeply, pinching the bridge of hs nose.

This would be a long day.

* * *

 _ **Somewhere Over the Pacific Ocean  
Same Time**_

The gigantic plane crossed the air with the easiness of a rhino trampling through mere grown grass. Under it hung a titaning rig, holding what seemed to be a crucified figure. The blueish black shape of Evangelion Unit-03 hung limply from the harness, waiting for the moment of its delivery to NERV´s secondary base at Matsushiro.

"Hmm… Cloud formations ahead, sir. Change of course?" The co-pilot asked.

"No need. Control says it´s not a storm system. We can cross it safely."

"Understood. Mantaining current course."

Without anybody realizing, the cloud contained the microscopic particles that made the 13th Angel´s body. As the titanic plane entered the cloud, lightning bolts flashed behind it.

For a single moment, Unit-03´s eyes flashed too.

The light dimmed into the blank eyes of the biomechanoid.

Bardiel now had a body.

* * *

 _ **First Municipal Junior High School  
2-A Classroom, Beginning of the School Day**_

"Suzuhara? Suzuhara? Hrmph…" The old teacher asked, annoyed. Assistance for both his class and school had dropped significantly since the First Angel had arrived. _'I guess it was too much to ask that Ayanami did come today,_ ´ he thought and sighed dramatically.

He didn´t notice the worried looks that several of his students exchanged.

Shinji Ikari felt the fine hair on his forearms standing on end. Never a good sign. Toji´s absence, plus Kensuke´s rumours about Unit-03's arrival, everything led him to a simple and unscapable conclusion.

With Eva-04 disappearance, and the rumbling at NERV about Branch 2, he was forced to assume Toji had been selected as an Evangelion pilot.

And with his own trend of luck, Shinji was sure something bad was about to happen.

He feared the time to cast spells from the EVA was getting closer. Time to start stacking the deck on his favor.

While the old teacher once again rehashing his unending remembrances about Life Before and After Second Impact, Shinji's attention shifted inwards, to his available spells. He needed combat spells he could cover with the EVA's AT Field.

* * *

 _ **GeoFront. NERV HQ  
Main Medical Lab  
10:37 A.M.**_

"Okay, Toji. Now be so kind to undress and step on that platform. I want you to grab those handles next to you."

"Erm… Is this really necessary, Doc?"

"Yes. We need to scan your body to fit the plugsuit properly. It will only take a couple of minutes. There´s no need to get nervous. I am a professional."

"If you say so…" Toji wasn´t that convinced, but… "Hum, Doc? Shinji had to do this too?"

"Yes. And he is about as happy as you. We have to repeat the procedure every two months to account for your growth."

Toji´s jaw set on a determined gesture. Quickly, but with a little hesitance, he took his track suit off and stepped on the platform. He was glad the cute girl who helped Dr. Akagi wasn´t present. It was bad enough with one woman around; but if Shinji had done this, he could do it too. "Ok, Doc, I´m ready. Shoot!"

"Close your eyes, the lasers are low intensity, but if you look at them directly, the light could damage your retinae."

"Got it. Ready."

"Now, stand as still as you can. Don´t open your eyes until I tell you. Three, two, one. Laser scan starts now." A low hum filled the room. Toji thought he could almost feel the light run all over his body. He certainly felt when the light passed over his eyes. Even though his head would be uncovered by the suit.

Next to Dr. Akagi, a wireframe model appeared on a holographic platform, turning around. Akagi nodded, and checked an item on her clipboard.

Her fingers danced on the keyboard of her computer, and somewhere else, a machine began to translate the data into another model, this time, it was a blown up mockery of the Fourth Child's body. Everything but hands, feet and crotch was expanded very precisely. A machine sculpted the modified model out from a block of sculpting foam.

"Very good, Toji." she pushed a button, and the laser array retracted into place. "You can open your eyes and put on your clothes."

* * *

 _ **First Municipal Junior High School  
2-A Classroom, Recess Time**_

"I don´t want to keep you from your food, so I´ll be brief." Shinji looked around, making sure his group of friends were alone in the classroom. Asuka and Hikari looked at him, but didn´t say a word, just nodded. "Kensuke has a new friend, and I´d like them both to be present when we discuss what´s happening around."

"Geek Stooge? A friend? Beyond you and Jock Stooge? My, what´s the world coming to?" Asuka answered with exaggerated drama. She even put a wrist on her forehead and threw her head back.

"Asuka!" Hikari elbowed her friend. "I´m okay with them coming too, but do they… know… about… the…um…" Hikari lost steam, not wanting to say the word ´ _magic_ ´.

"Kinda. His friend does, Kensuke is on the fence. He hasn't seen any magic yet." He shrugged, "Misato will be gone for the weekend, so we can speak freely at the apartment. Do you both agree to have Kensuke and his friend around?"

Both girls looked at each other. Asuka answered. "Sure, as long as he behaves."

"Good. Kensuke´s friend is part of what I want to talk about." Shinji straightened up, and turned to leave. "See you at Misato´s." And he left the classroom, looking for his friend.

* * *

 _ **GeoFront. NERV HQ  
Commander Ikari´s Lair  
12:50 P.M.**_

"The Fourth Child is in very good physical shape, Sir. Better than the Third was when he arrived, that´s certain. He is a bit… obtuse in his reasoning, but we can work with that. His mental evaluation shows him as a follower, but he can demonstrate some initiative when properly motivated."

"Good. He will be transported to the Matsushiro Base for preliminary testing. Once Unit-03 arrives, he is to start the synchronization process."

Fujutsuki observed the cold exchange between Dr. Akagi and Commander Ikari. He kept his thoughts for himself. Still, he was quite worried. According to their interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the 13th Angel should arrive sometime soon, and splitting the technical staff could cause problems. He would have preferred to have Unit-03 thoroughly tested in Tokyo-3, but the Commander had ignored his suggestion.

Commander Ikari changed subject. "Status of the Dummy Plug Project?"

Akagi pulled a folder from the stack she had in front of her. "Development is finished, preliminary testing on controlled conditions has worked reasonably well. We are ready for the first live test on field conditions."

"Good. Install the first plug in Unit-01 before leaving for Matsushiro. Make sure it is completely functional. Leave your team to install the second Dummy Plug in Unit-02. Dismissed."

"Yes, sir." Akagi took her papers, and left the cavernous office.

"Expecting trouble, Ikari?" Fujutsuki raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." The Commander tented his fingers in front of his face, looking straight ahead. "The Third Child´s behaviour has changed. It seems whatever happened inside the 12th Angel had a noticeable effect on him."

" _PTSD_?" Fujutsuki´s right eyebrow raised. He hadn´t seen Shinji after his return from iside the 12th Angel, except for a cursory visit to the hospital, and the boy had been unconscious then. The old professor felt himself obligated to visit the pilot, perfectly aware his own father wouldn´t. Not unless it somehow helped the thrice-damned Escenario of his... The voice of his once time pupil got him out from his thoughts.

"Might be. But we have no confirmation of that yet. Let´s see how he performs in the next battle."

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3; Katsuragi-Ikari-Soryu Apartment  
After Classes.**_

"We might be more comfortable on the living room." Asuka pushed the couch back against the wall. "How many people are we?" Asuka began counting with her fingers. "You, me, Hikari, Limiry, Kensuke and his mysterious friend. Six total."

"Yup. That´s right. Um… Sorry I changed plans, Asuka. I had thought I could let you start with your magic studies today. Ah, I almost forgot." He brought a square package from a plastic bag. "This is for you. I hope you´ll like it."

Asuka ripped the brown paper and stared at a beautiful book, leatherbound, metal clasps, parchment pages. "A magic book?" Her smile illuminated the room.

"Not yet." Shinji smiled. "It will be. I brought it from Oerth. It´s a spell book, specially made for an adventuring wizard. The pages are treated to be water and fire resistant. You have to write your spells on it, along with any notes you want to put in writing. Welcome to a bigger, and much stranger world."

Asuka looked deeply into Shinji´s eyes, fearing to find it was all a big joke on her. She found only a warm support. The moment passed, and she hugged the book, whispering "Thanks."

The redheaded pilot ran to her room, and carefully out her new spell book in a drawer. She already had her calligrapphy set out from storage, and had practiced a bit, to reacquaint herself with writing with nibs. She really had no intention of using antiquated quills, as the implements seemed to be more trouble than they were worth, especially having top quality pens made back in Germany.

Although according to Shinji, she would have to prepare her own ink. Anyway, that might be unneccessary, she would have to experiment first with ready made ink from the store.

As she was going back to the living room, Shinji was opening the door, welcoming Hikari and Limiry. Shinji went back to the kitchen, to watch whatever he was busy cooking.

While Limiry and Hikari sat, Pen-Pen waddled up to the freckled girl, rubbing his head against Hikari´s hand. The door's tone rang again. "I´ll get it!" Asuka opened the door, curious to find just who was Kensuke´s friend. She was somewhat surprised by the short but masively muscled woman who accompanied the military otaku. "H-hi! Welcome! Please come in."

"Hey, Asuka! Meet Rusilka Burningforge. Rusilka, this is Asuka Langley Soryu, Second Child, Evangelion Pilot, and the Red Devil I told you about." The woman snorted at Kensuke´s introduction. It was clear she was somewhat amused.

Asuka bristled at the nickname. "Hey! Thread carefully, Geek Stooge." She exhaled, controlling her temper and turning towards Rusilka. "My apologies, Miss Burningforge. This Stooge gets on my last nerve sometimes. Please come in." She motioned them in.

"Well met, young Asuka." Rusilka beamed at her, holding her right hand up, palm towards Asuka. "Mr. Aida can be a bit loose-lipped, but he means well. He actually talks highly about you. You have earned his respect. Mostly."

"You better!" Asuka poked Kensuke´s chest twice "Now, come in, the others are already here, and we really have to talk."

* * *

Once they had all settled in, Shinji served the first course, a richly spiced soup. "Well," he said, looking at the eyes of everybody present, one after the other. "lets begin. Both Limiry and Rusilka come from another world. It seems neither can recall details from it." He put some gold coins on the table. "These I got from Rusilka when I visited her at her current dwelling." He put some other coins next to the first group. "Limiry brought these." And finally, he set a third group. "And these, I brought with me."

The group leaned in, to examine the coins. Shinji pushed one of each group at Limiry and Rusilka. "Seem familiar?"

The two exiled women took the coins, and examined them carefully. Rusilka flipped each one on the air, listening to the sound they made when hit by her fingernail. Meanwhile Limiry looked at her coins. "Indeed." Rusilka grumbled. "This one is from my realm, it´s a King´s Hammer; and this one I have seen traded with merchants, its a..."

"A Gold Throne." Limiry interrupted her. "But I don´t recognize this other. It´s nice and detailed, though." Somehow, without anybody noticing exactly when, the gnome had acquired a slice of the berry cake Shinji had prepared for dessert, and she bit it delicately, enjoying the flavor.

Dismissing the ocurrence, Shinji looked at Rusilka. The dwarf turned the coin, examining it carefully. "No, I don´t recognize it either. But it is a high quality mint."

Shinji took the coin back. "It´s a Golden Noble. Legal tender in the world I spent some time in."

Kensuke´s eyes bugged out. "Wait, wait, wait. What other world?"

* * *

Shinji told them a bit about Oerth, the Justicar, Escalla and the rest, about five years spent learning how to fight. And how to win.

"I was ready to do what I had to to win the Angel War. Alone. But I didn´t expect to find that more people would come along. Especially as it seems they come from yet another place. Limiry told me about the gods from her world, and they don´t match with the ones from Oerth I know about. The coins are just more proof. Both Limiry and Rusilka come from yet another place. And I seriously doubt they are the only visitors we have."

Hikari raised her hand. "The guys who almost attacked Limiry?"

"Goblins, nasty bussiness. They are vermin, but they are also dangerous." Limiry said, Rusilka nodded.

The dwarf added. "Weak individually, but they are rarely alone. They are also dim-witted; but damnably creative about ways to hurt others."

Shinji pinched the bridge of his nose. A long day indeed.

Hikari seemed to hesitate a bit to talk, it seemed she had something in her mind. She was about to stand up to get some water, when a swarm of blue butterflies flew through the open window. To everybody´s surprise, an insect landed on each member of the group, while the rest of the swarm flew around them. Limiry smiled beatifically, closing her eyes for a moment.

"Wha..?" Asuka mumbled.

"It´s a blessing!" The gnome wheezed, pulling at Hikari's sleeve, like an excited child. "Look at their wings! They are swallowtails!"

The butterflies were strangely calm, and Asuka took in her hand the one which had landed on Hikari´s head. The upper wings had markings similar to stars, plus one sun and one moon in the lower wings. Just like Limirys pendant!

The brunette covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes darting from one insect to the other. "She... she said she would send a small portent!" Limiry grabbed her by the shoulders. "She spoke to you? Blessed Lady of Dreams! She spoke to you!" She was almost jumping up and down in her excitement.

By the time the group went back to their homes, they had reached a tentative agreement. They would be alert for more visitors, and Hikari would begin her training as Desna´s first cleric on Earth. Shinji was a bit miffed at this, but for the moment, he couldn´t see a way out. Desna´s warning to Hikari weighted heavily on him. And he needed allies. He would have to speak at lenght with Limiry, about Desna´s teachings and demands.

* * *

 _ **NERV´s Secondary Base  
Matsushiro  
Temporary Crew Quarters  
06:17 P.M.**_

"So, what do you think, Toji?" Misato opened the door, allowing Toji to enter to the room he had been asigned while in the Matsushiro Base.

"Nice place, Miss Misato!" He said, putting his backpack on a low table. "Needs a couple of posters, but I guess I can´t be picky." He stretched like a cat, it had been a long day, but it seemed he could rest now.

Misato smiled at him. "For what is worth, I agree," she said, opening the small fridge set in a corner. She took two cans of soda, and handed one to the jock. Both drank heartily from the cans, "Still, this is only for a few days, once we have finished with the synch tests, we will go back to Tokyo-3."

Toji nodded, rubbing his arm. "...Yeah... You know something, Miss Misato? I used to think Shinji was weird, but now than I am here... "

"Don´t worry about that, I´m sure he doesn´t hold it over your head." She paused to check a message on her cell phone, sneering at the message. "I must go, Rits needs me for something or other. I´ll see you later, Toji!"

She went out, only to come back a few seconds later. "One last thing, Toji; while I am acting in an official capacity, please call me ´Major Katsuragi´ when there´s somebody else around. Okay? Not that I care much for ceremony, but some of the others do."

"Got it, " he smiled back at her, " _Major_."

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3, Geofront  
NERV HQ, Central Dogma  
Saturday, 11:26 A.M.**_

"So, no news yet?" Lt. Makoto Hyuga sat on his chair, and typed his passord.

Lt. Maya Ibuki turned slightly on her chair.

"Nothing. The tech team sent by the First Branch didn't find anything. The place was completely flattened. There's nothing left of the Second Branch. Even the residual radiation is gone."

Lt. Shigeru Aoba continued. "I know one guy in that team. He told me they found some dead animals at the very edge of The Event, he stressed the capital letters, by the way. The lizards, bugs, and birds they found were practically disintegrating into dust. The weirdest thing is that most of them were still standing! The biggest creature they found was a coyote, holding a dead bird on its mouth, like it had just caught it."

Maya shuddered. "Sounds like that story from the Bible... Job's wife? Turned into a statue made of salt."

"It was Lot's wife, but yeah. It sounds exactly like that." Shigero elaborated.

After a long, silent pause, Makoto pushed his glasses up. "Didn't think you were a Christian?"

"Nah." Shigeru smirked. "I went through a phase when I was a teen, got into studying Comparative Religion." He shrugged dismissively. "Didn't find what I was looking for, and here I am now, fighting Angels as best I can."

Commander Ikari chose that moment to enter Central Dogma, killing any chance of further conversation between the bridge bunnies.

* * *

 _ **NERV Secondary Base, Matsushiro  
Saturday Night**_

Bardiel finished his own inspection of the Evangelion, and found it… interesting, in a very detached way. The Angel was tired from the long voyage to this insignificant speck of dirt, and decided to rest and wait. The Evangelion certainly was powerful in its own way, and the soul that had originally rested in the core had put up a merely symbolic resistance before being consumed by the Angel. Now, Bardiel´s awareness was the only one in the biomech. He dedicated a tiny fragment of his consciousness to study his environment.

Unfortunately, it would take some time to grow what the humans called the S2 Engine. A matter of a few hours. Meanwhile, the humans were busy charging the primitive emulation of the S2 Engine, a mere electric battery.

Oh, well… Energy is energy…

Meanwhile, Toji Suzuhara stirred in his dreams. He would have several nightmares.

* * *

 _ **Author Notes.**_

I haven't found any canon reference to exactly what the condition of Branch 2 site after the catastrophe. So, I decided to throw a little mistery there. I also took the chance to give a certain coyote some dignity, even in death. He finally caught that bloody roadrunner!


	10. Light to Darkness Joy to Anger

_**Tokyo-3 Arcana**_

* * *

 _ **Please Read and Review.**_ _I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it)._

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 _ **Chapter 10**_

 _ **From Light to Darkness. From Joy to Anger.**_

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 _ **NERV Secondary Base at Matsushiro  
Sunday, 10:27 A.M.**_

"Man, I feel so strange." Toji turned around, looking at his own backside on a full body mirror. "I bet the Class Rep would slap me if she saw me in this outfit. It doesn´t leave anything for the imagination!"

A soft knock on the door announced Major Katsuragi´s entrance. "Ready, Toji? The first synch test is in ten minutes. And I hope you´re ready for a lot of just sitting there doing nothing but get bored."

"Yeah, I´m ready. Shinji has told Kensuke and me how it goes, Major K."

Misato almost facepalmed. "Toji, the proper way to address your superior officer is either rank and full surname, or just the rank. Major K sounds like a cereal brand." Still, she was smiling a bit, so he hadn´t offended her.

"Sorry, Major. I´m new to all this. Kensuke is the one who knows all that by heart. Maybe he would have been a better choice. At least he likes the idea."

A shadow crossed the Major´s face, but she shook it off. "Maybe the next one. Although I´m almost sure he would try to take the EVA for an unauthorized joyride."

Toji smiled back at the very image. "He would!"

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3; Katsuragi-Ikari-Soryu Apartment  
Sunday, 5:17 P.M.**_

"So, senpai..? Now?" Asuka held her spell book in her hands, while Shinji finished drying the plates. The young pilot dried his hands with a towel, and smiled back at her.

"Sure, Kaji went for some food, he should return in about an hour or so. Follow me. I´m going to show you the coolest things I brought back from Oerth." He put the last plate in its place, and went to his room. "You are not going to believe it!"

Once back in the living room, Shinji brought a black handkerchief from a hiding place. Asuka saw him unfold it, and unfold it, and unfold it! The thing was the size of a bedsheet! A kingsize bedsheet, in fact. Shinji extended it over the floor. "Now, watch." He said, and put his hand inside! It looked like he was searching for something. Impossibly, the blackness just absorbed his hand, ordinarily, his hand should have stopped at the floor, but it was now well below the floor level! Asuka recoiled with a gasp, remembering how the 12th Angel had absorbed Unit-01.

For a moment, Shinji just looked at her with a puzzled expression on his face, until understanding why she had gasped. He hit his forehead with the palm of his hand, "Oh, sorry; sorry. I forgot how this looks like, I had the same reaction the first time I saw it, too. Should have remembered it. Come closer. It´s perfectly safe." Shinji pulled his hand, holding what seemed to be the top of a… a ladder. And impossibly, he stepped down into the dark sheet, lowering himself into it. As he descended, he smiled warmly at her. "Don´t worry, it´s just a portable hole, it´s completely harmless by itself. Although the Justicar and Escalla can make weapons out of almost anything!" his smile grew wider, "Step carefully after me. It is time for you to meet your mentor in wizarding magic."

Carefully and gingerly, the redheaded girl put a finger into the black surface, and once she saw it had no effect on her, Asuka followed him. Although with some hesitancy she did her best to squash. Once inside, she saw they were in a round room, about four meters in diameter. There were several old style chests, made of wood, with metal bands; they almost looked like pirate chests from the movies, except their tops were flat, not curved. And there was an elaborate lectern in the center of the room. Between two chests, Asuka saw a bunch of manga books.

"Welcome to my home away from home, Asuka!" Shinji spread his arms expansively. There was a huge smile on his face. Asuka had never seen such joy on the Third Child´s face.

"Very nice… Quite homey." Asuka looked around, the lectern seemed to call her attention at a primal level. She realized if there was a place for a big and powerful magic book, like the Tome of Arcane Knowledge surely was, it would be there. But the lectern was placed in such a way she couldn´t see what was over it´s V shaped top.

A new voice filled the strange place. "Finally! You took your sweet own time, kid! Is than my apprentice?" The voice was a bit shrill, though; ruining the effect Asuka had expected from a magical, talking book. She expected a deep, ponderous, elegant, maybe even rumbling voice.

"She is. Asuka, let me introduce you to Tom. Tom, this is Asuka Langley Soryu, my fellow pilot and your apprentice in the Magical Arts."

Asuka walked around the lectern, anxious to see the magical book for the first time. Only to find a strange surprise looking at her with big emerald eyes.

It was a cat.

A clockwork cat.

A _toy_.

A _Gott-damned_ toy.

"Asuka, meet the Tom of Arcane Knowledge. Tom for short."

Asuka turned towards Shinji, a murderous glare in her eyes. "What. Is. The. Meaning. Of. _**This**_ ; Third?" she poked his chest repeatedly with her finger, punctuating each word. "Is this some fucking sick joke at my expense?"

Without flinching, Shinji lifted the mechanical cat from the lectern. Scratching its head, while the two emerald eyes looked at Asuka. "If it´s a joke, my friends and I did fell for it, Asuka. But actually, Tom here was made as a tutor for young nobles who showed any affinity to magic."

"Indeed I was, girl. Made by the great wizardess Vandelia, grandniece and apprentice of the very great wizard Pentaglio. She made me by using his notes, years after Pentaglio died. It took her twenty six years to find the notes, for they disappeared when Pentaglio died. Vandelia did improve on his work, giving me the ability to teach magic. As her own health was falling, she made me to continue her own work; first to teach the third daughter of the king himself." The cat preened self-importantly, and waved an exquisitely detailed paw, stressing his point. "My creator had a strange sense of humor, and she thought a fine joke to name me so. Now, the kid here found me in a deep dungeon, and was so kind to wake me up. Sadly, being a sorcerer, he cannot learn from me, but he promised he would find the best, most brightest apprentice he could; and here I am, and here you are. Now, are you going to go in a huff, or will you put that sharp intellect he says you have to the task? _Hmm_?" The toy cat tilted its head to one side, looking deeply into her eyes with an unblinking gaze.

Asuka breathed deeply several times, trying to calm herself. She almost spoke a couple of times, but thought better. Until she finally felt her temper was under her control again.

"Third, I´m going out for a minute. I´ll come back once I have calmed down. Right now, I´m this close to doing I don´t know what." She dropped her spell book over a chest.

Tom nodded, "You do that, girl."

Asuka went up the ladder. The last thing she heard was Shinji´s voice. "I told you she was fire and life incarnated."

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3 General Hospital  
Same Time.**_

"Father? Where's Toji?"

"He is working, Sakura." Mr. Suzuhara checked his watch. "By now, they must be about to show him what he must do."

Sakura Suzuhara looked down. "I thought he would be here too, to go to the new hospital."

Mr. Suzuhara took the hand of his daughter and squeezed it softly. "He couldn't come, Sakura. He arranged for you to go to a better hospital for your treatment. But he had to start yesterday at his new job..."

"But I wanted him here!" Sakura's eyes filled with tears. "...I'm scared..."

Her father caressed her hair. "I know." He smiled wanly at her. "Wanna know a secret?" The girl nodded. "I'm scared too. For you, for him, for all of us."

The door opened, and two orderlies entered the room. "Mr. Suzuhara? The ambulance is ready. We're here to transport Miss Sakura to NERV's Sanatorium."

Both Suzuharas looked at each other. Mr. Suzuhara patted Sakura's shoulder. "Toji will come back soon, and he will visit you as soon as possible, Okay?"

"...Okay..."

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3, Horaki Household  
Same Time.**_

"Here are the star charts you bought, Limiry." Hikari set what looked like an old-style road map on the garden table.

"Great! Now, help me orient it..." she pulled a compass out from her pocket, and directed Hikari as the two aligned the star chart on a clearing.

A couple of minutes later, it was ready. "Now, we wait for nightfall. I´m going to teach you to guide yourself with Desna´s gift. The stars on the sky."

The next hour was spent with a long, but interesting tale of how Desna had created the night jewels. Plus several tips to orient herself with them.

At some point, Nozomi arrived, she wanted to play a game with Limiry, but her talk was so interesting the child simply sat next to them, and listened to the tales the gnome cleric spun for her sister.

* * *

 _ **NERV Secondary Base at Matsushiro  
Control Bridge 5:26 P.M.**_

The long litany of technical readouts and operational proceedings had gone its normal course, but somehow, Misato had an overwhelming sense of foreboding. She was sure something would go wrong.

So far, no problem had been detected. Toji had previous experience breathing LCL, so the process wasn't so overwhelming for him as It was for Shinji. ' _Damn..! This really smells like blood..._ ' He thought.

Everything was normal.

Until the synch rate reached the Absolute Borderline.

The synch rate was watched by something very alien.

Very smart in his own way.

And very dangerous.

From inside Unit-03's Core.

* * *

 ** _NERV Secondary Base at Matsushiro  
Unit-03´s Provisional Cage _****_5:27:05 P.M._**

Bardiel's patience had worked perfectly in his favor.

He could have attacked at any time before, during the synch tests; but waiting for the activation test meant he not only had an Evangelion Unit at his disposal, It also meant a good chunk of NERV's tech crew was in reach!

When the systems reached the Absolute Borderline, Bardiel released a pulse of energy sending the EVA cages and a big part of the surrounding mountain into a Sea of Dirac

Unit-03 roared, the armor on its back was pushed out by Bardiel's own angelic flesh, showing a knot of veins in the underlying tissues.

And a cylindrical shaft of stone, dirt and metal was vaporized.

The loss of structural support dragged down other parts of the base.

* * *

 ** _NERV Secondary Base at Matsushiro  
Control Bridge _****_5:27:07 P.M._**

 _"EVERYBODY_ _ **OUT**_ _! LEAVE EVERYTHING! EVERYB..!"_

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 _ **Tokyo-3; Katsuragi-Ikari-Soryu Apartment  
5:35 P.M.**_

Asuka dropped down into the portable hole, her face a mask of horror. Hell cellphone still in her grip.

Shinji jumped up from his seat over a chest, while Tom jumped down from his lap. "Wha..?"

"Shinji! Something happened at Matsushiro! We must report to NERV right NOW! Kaji is on his way here and we need to be ready and waiting for him on the ground floor five minutes ago!"

"Got it! Tom, we will continue later."

"Go!"

In a few seconds, while Asuka ran out to call the elevator, Shinji folded efficiently the portable hole back to the size of a handkerchief, and stored it back into the same hiding place.

Three minutes later, both teenagers were being driven to the GeoFront by a Ryoji Kaji completely oblivious to trafic laws.

* * *

 _ **In Route to Tokyo-3, Mount Nobe  
6:20 P.M.**_

Shinji sat unconfortably on his seat in the Entry Plug. He had set the EVA in the same posture of a runner ready to start a race, one knee set on the ground, a foot planted firmly, and both hands touching the ground with only the fingertips. He had already connected the umbilical cable at the back of Unit-01, connected to a portable generator. He was ready for the tense wait, and took advantage of the moment to think.

Every hint, every clue led him to dark fears. Most of his willpower was set on mantaining the bland expression on his face. Still, his mouth was a thin line of purpose. Misato and Dr. Akagi were absent from Central Dogma, at the Secondary base at Matsushiro. He couldn't be sure if the secondary bridge bunnies were there too or if they were simply out of their rotation at the moment. Toji's absence from school was almost certainly due to him piloting Unit-03...

And to top everything off, Commander Ikari had assumed charge for the operation. _'The damn idiot deployed us in a line! Out of sight of each other! We can't support the other EVAs!'_

A voice intruded in his mind. _'Shinji... I couldn't make contact with Unit-02, they put it too far away from Unit-01´s maintenance cage; but.. I contacted Unit-00. I have terrible news...'_

Mentally, Shinji nodded, readying himself for the inevitable blow. _'Go ahead, Mother.'_

Yui Ikari's voice seemed to gulp a painfully big lump. _'It has part of a soul. A murdered child's.'_

 _'Why I'm I not surprised at all, Mother?'_ Anger bubbled on his surface thoughts, Jus´ voice rang clear in his memories. "Anger can be another weapon, but you must be careful not to let it control you. Control it, ride it like a wave. _Use_ it."Shinji obeyed his mentor, and put a tight reign on his anger.

 _'It's even worse, son. The soul is Rei's'_

 _'WHAT?'_ Shinji gripped the control yoke so hard he almost dented it.

 _'She's angry, hurt, and half-crazy with fear and pain.'_ Yui sighed. _'I'm not sure of the how or the why, but she was murdered by Naoko. Gendo set them up for a murder-suicide when Rei was four years old.'_

It took all his self-control to not enter into a Berserker rage. Shinji breathed deeply several times. 'I'm gonna pass judgement on him, Mother.' For a moment, he seemed to be chewing the muscles of his own jaw. 'And There **Will Be Justice**.'

 _'He isn't the man I thought I married.'_ There was anger and sadness in her voice. _'There's something else. They put a second plug in the EVA. I feel nothing in there, except for some buzzing. It almost feels like an echo.'_

Shinji nodded mentally. _'Any idea of what's in it?"_

 _'I'm not sure. But it feels really wrong.'_

 _'Hmm... We might have to do something about it, if it gets on the way. I don't trust the Commander to not boobytrap the other plug."_ The senses of the EVA alerted him; a regular stomping felt through the fingertips, set against the ground; and through the soles of its feet _. 'Here It comes. Can you feel It?'_

 _'Yes, I it. It's 's not even trying to be stealthy."_

 _'Be ready, we will talk later.'_

 _'Be careful.'_

Shinji opened comm channels to the other EVAs. Images of Rei and Asuka appeared at his sides. "The Angel is close."

Rei nodded. Asuka kept her mask on. "Tell us something we don't know, Third Child."

"Toji might be the pilot."

Asuka suspected the same. "Riiight. As if we didn't have enough problems."

Rei hesitated for a moment. "Confirmed. He was chosen as the Fourth Child. Weren't you informed?"

"No. No one told me."

Commander Ikari's dry, cold, voice interrupted them. "Unit-03 has been reclassified as the 13th Angel. Second Child, the Angel is closing on your position, destroy it."

"That's it?" Shinji asked. He couldn't believe his ears. "What about the pilot?"

"Irrelevant. The Angel's destruction has priority. It that clear?"

"V-very clear. C-Commander Ikari." With a supreme effort, Shinji mantained his meek facade. He had almost spat a couple of Escalla's most creative expelitives. But it wasn't the moment. His own Scenario required to keep Gendo Ikari at NERV until the endgame. He was a known quantity. If he was removed, SEELE would replace him with someone else. Someone who would surely follow through with SEELE's plans. Someone he couldn´t take precautions against. Not without a lot of time to study their behavior.

Gendo Ikari hadn't bothered to activate the image feed from the Entry Plugs. Had he done so, the murderous look that flashed in the eyes of his stranged son would have sent a chill down his spine. As it was, he felt satisfied he had cowed the Third Child into submission. He smiled behind his tented fingers.

 _´Soon, Third Child;´_ he thought _,´soon you will be the perfect tool to enact my wife´s return to me.´_

* * *

 _ **Author Notes.**_

Unlike canon, this Asuka was so focused in learning magic, she didn't snoop on Kaji's office. So she didn't know for certain who was Unit-03 's pilot.

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Tom, or better yet, The _Tom of Arcane Knowledge_ , is a mix of two magical items from the rich history of D&D. The first one comes from the much maligned satiric module, _Castle Greyhawk (for AD &D 1st Edition, Code WG7)_, from where I took most of the inspiration for Tom´s debut. The cat in Castle Greyhawk was actually called _Ye Secret Tom of Inestimable Knowledge_. (I had planned on introducing it to my PC party, in almost the same way I did here, but circumstances put that particular game in indefinite hiatus…)

The other item is _Golden, the Clockwork Cat_. It was part of an article in Dragon Magazine (issue 299, Sept 2002), about a series of magical toys made by the wizard Pentaglio. So, It was not a big stretch of the imagination to think that Pentaglio had also made a toy to teach magic to children. However, the same article said that Pentaglio had died soon after completing his work on Golden. The same article mentioned that Pentaglio had a lot of nephews and nieces, and in fact, most of his toys were made for them. Vendelia is my own original character, but just as a background NPC, so there is no need for her stats or anything else.

Now, the reason I had to make Tom was simple fun. I thought it would be cool to prime Asuka for a big ponderous revelation, only to make it all fall flat in a way. Just like it must have been for the players of Castle Greyhawk, but with added value. Tom is actually a good teacher!

And a jerk.


	11. Get Ready! Fight!

**_Tokyo-3 Arcana_**

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 **Note** , the parenthesis indicate languages other than Japanese, in this case, German.

 **Please Read and Review**. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it).

* * *

 ** _Chapter 11_**

 ** _Get Ready! Fight!_**

* * *

 ** _NERV Secondary Base at Matsushiro_**

 ** _Above the Ruins of the Control Bridge, 6:40 P.M_**.

"By the Kami! We have our job cut out for us, boys." The crew chief of the rescue team surveyed the ruins of what had been NERV´s Secondary base. "Okay, guys and gals, this is when we show up those pencil pushers our paychecks are deserved."

His second brought a set of plans from somewhere. "Boss, it seems most of the damage was at the Eva cages. If my calculations are right, the Central Dogma zone and most of the crew should be banged up, but relatively fine. We might find survivors if we hurry up and get them out before the whole complex goes down like a house of cards."

"Good. We need some good news after that kami-damned blast! Send a squad of probes through the ventilation system, as far as your rolling boys can guide them. I want them to go through the shortest route to Central Dogma. You, Aida! Send a flight of dragonflies down the hole, see of you can find any signs of movement."

"Yes, sir!" A thin man answered, he pushed his eyeglasses up his nose, and tugged nervously at his moustache. "I´m on it!"

A scruffy looking man grabbed a shovel, "What can I do to help?"

"Do you really know ho to use that shovel, Mr. Kaji?"

"I do. I'm hardly an expert, but I worked in construction back in the day."

The chief of the rescue squad stared at him for a long moment. "I have no time to teach you to work in danger zones, but I guess you can help moving debris out from the low-risk zones. Grab a helmet and gloves. You will work with Mr. Higuchi."

Soon, the semi-autonomous machines swarmed the wreckage, looking for any signs of survivors.

* * *

 ** _Tokyo-3, NERV HQ_**

 ** _Central Dogma, 06:41 P.M._**

Commander Gendo Ikari sat at his post at the Perch, surveying the operational displays on the cyclopean holographic screen. Everything proceeded according to the Dead Sea Scrolls projections. The 13th Angel, Bardiel, had hijacked Evangelion Unit-03 as it was foreseen.

Allowing that had been a risky gambit, but Ikari was certain of the end result. By positioning the Evangelions in a line, he could be sure to have the chance to watch how the Angel fought, and be prepared to guide the Third Child into a psychological dead end. His budding independence would be crushed, and would have to accept the path the Commander had traced for him ten years before. As a contingency plan, sure, but it din´t pay to leave things to chance. It would have been infinitely better not to put that contingency plan to use, but circumstances had forced his hand.

Ikari almost shook in anticipation of the battle. Unit-02 was the most expendable, along with its pilot, therefore, it would be the first to fight against Bardiel. Unit-00 and its pilot were expendable too, although the pilot had back-ups and would be replaced if needed. Hopefully, both EVAs would soften the Angel before it fought Unit-01, the only non-expendable Evangelion of the lot.

* * *

 ** _In Route to Tokyo-3, Mount Nobe_**

 ** _EVA-02´s Designated Position; 6:46 P.M._**

Asuka´s hands tightened on the control yoke. ´ _(Hell and Damnation! I didn´t even had the chance to learn any new spells...)´_ She bit her lower lip. _´(I doubt the Angel would be impressed by a little light show. And anyway, I don´t have any fireflies with me at the moment.)´_

She tensed for a moment. The waiting was always the worst part of a battle. The feeling of butterflies in her stomach was incredibly intense. For a moment, her mind went back to the strange invasion of butterflies at Misato´s. Could it be actually true? Hikari as a cleric in training? For a goddess from another world? Asuka smiled. _´(That would really make going to church more interesting.)´_

Commander Ikari´s unwelcome voice brought her back to the present "Second Child, the 13th Angel is close to your range. Get ready."

"Yes, Sir." At Asuka´s mental order, EVA-02´s enormous hands brought her weapon to bear. From around the mountain, the heavy, regular footsteps of Unit-03 cut through the air, heralding his arrival. A few moments later, the black and blue form of the EVA appeared. Its arms hung loosely at its sides, as if the creature didn´t know what to do with them, and not caring about it. The way the EVA moved reminded Asuka of a puppet. _´(Well... I guess it is a puppet. I don´t know who is pulling the cords, but I know who is gonna cut them!)´_

Carefully, she aligned the sights of her EVA-sized bazooka; slowly, Unit-02 squeezed the trigger. The projectile launched itself against Bardiel. Asuka had aimed at the legs, hoping to incapacitate the creature to allow a rescue attempt.

* * *

 ** _In Route to Tokyo-3, Mount Nobe_**

 ** _EVA-01´s Designated Position; 6:47 P.M._**

Shinji´s fury had cooled down to a simmer. His emotions were tightly controlled. He focused on listening to the feed from Unit-02.

Asuka´s voice was full of surprise and anger. "Was? How did it..? Verdamnt!"

Shinji heard grunting and several hits. "Asuka!" he yelled into the plug.

"This bozo is hard!" She answered. "And damnably fast!" It seemed she was talking to herself, more than at him. He tightened his grip on the control yoke.

 _´Mother, be ready. I might need your help soon..´_

 _"I am ready, Shinji. I have Unit-01´s control, and will synch it with you as needed."_

 _"Energy levels?"_

 _"Both reserves are full."_

 _"Good."_

More noises from the feed. "Hell! No!" A crunching sound filled Shinji with horror. "Central Dogma! Pilot´s status, please!"

Maya Ibuki´s voice answered. "Asuka is unconscious. The Angel broke the bazooka aginst Unit-02´s head. The feedback loop knocked Asuka out, but she will recover. However, Unit-02´s sensor array is out of commission. The plug was ejected. The rescue team is on its way to get her."

Commander Ikari interrupted her. "Rei, avoid close range combat and stop the target. "

"Understood."

"No." Shinji´s voice interrupted him.

"What is the meaning of this, Third Child?"

"It means that this battle-plan is worse than useless, Commander. Rei, I´m moving into your position."

"Hold your position, Third Child." Commander Ikari slammed his fist against the desk. "Hold your position! It´s an order!" A click noise was heard. Lt. Ibuki informed, although everybody had realized what Shinji had done. "Sir? Shinji cut the signal."

"Cut all synchronization between the pilot and Unit-01. Do it now."

Maya turned around, horrified. "Cut it?"

"Correct. Switch the control circuit to the Dummy Plug.

Maya insisted, "But the Dummy Plug still isn't functioning properly. Without Dr. Akagi's aproval..."

"I have given you an order, Lieutenant. A pilot who disobeys orders is worse than useless." The coldness in his voice cowed Maya, who barely mumbled a "Yes... Sir..."

"NOW!"

* * *

 ** _In Route to Tokyo-3, Mount Nobe_**

 ** _EVA-01´s Designated Position; Same Time_**

Down in a gully, next to a bridge, Rei Ayanami wanted for the Angel to pass her by. EVA-00's hands held onto the pallet rifle. Once the target walked away from her, she centered the target locks on it. But before EVA-00 could shoot, the Angel stopped, its body jerked convulsively, and was propelled backwards by a burst of its AT Field.

Rei had barely a chance to react before EVA-03 was upon Unit-00. Dimly, she thought it was a jump very similar to the one EVA-01 had made during its first battle. The mechanoid spun head over heels in the air, with more grace than any olympic athlete, and landed right over Unit-00´s back, pinning it to the ground, face down. The Evangelion was completely immobilized.

As the black EVA-s hands held Unit-00 to the ground, a viscous pink liquid oozed from the armor joints. As the noxious liquid touched EVA-00´s left arm, a burning agony spread over Rei´s own arm. Her screams filled both Central Dogma and Unit-01´s cockpit.

* * *

 ** _In Route to Tokyo-3, Mount Nobe_**

 ** _Between EVA-00 and EVA-01´s Designated Positions; Same Time_**

Unit-01´s run was stopped dead. All around Shinji, the viewing holograms that showed him the view around Unit-01´s head went dark. Red lights replaced the images of the world around the EVA. Behind him, a previously unremarkable panel now flashed the words 'OPERATION: DUMMY SYSTEM; REI". _´What in the name of the Abyss have you done now, Commander?´_ he thought. _´Mother? Answer me.´_

 _´Gnnn... I can barely keep contact with the core, Shinji! I can´t keep your synch! I´m drifting away!´_

 _´Mother!´_ His mind screamed. He felt the EVA kneeling on the ground, the weight of the umbilical cable still at its back. His connection still worked on the sense of touch of the monster he piloted. _´So, that´s the way you want it. **So. Be. It. Commander**.´_

He closed his eyes and collected his mind into itself, drifting into the EVA´s semi-consciousness. A moment later, he found what he was looking for. He whispered a single word. A word he had kept in reserve for a dire emergency. A word he had chosen due to a whimsical, barely remembered memory from his childhood, about a hero who appeared amidst a lightning bolt.

 ** _"Shazam!"_**

* * *

 ** _Tokyo-3, NERV HQ_**

 ** _Central Dogma, a Few Seconds Before._**

"Commander, the Dummy Plug is active." Maya´s distaste was evident in her voice, but Commander Ikari only cared for her obedience.

"Good, order it to go to stand-by."

"Yes, sir."

Makoto informed. "There are strange readings in EVA-01's core! Energy is building up, but the EVA is not doing anything!"

"What? Reroute the energy, cut the connection to the core!"

"I´m trying, Sir. The Eva is blocking the signal!"

Maya interrupted. "The Angel is invading Unit-00's left arm! The nerve systems are being corrupted!"

"Cut off the left arm. Immediately!"

Maya argued against that. "But you've got to sever the neural conection first!"

"Cut it off."

"Yes, Sir..." Realizing she couldn't disuade the Commander, Maya´s fingers danced on the keyboard, priming the explosive charges set in the EVA´s left shoulder. At her signal, they detonated, severing the arm right at the shoulder joint.

Rei´s agonic scream echoed all over Central Dogma.

* * *

 ** _In Route to Tokyo-3, Mount Nobe_**

 ** _Between EVA-00 and EVA-01´s Designated Positions; Same Time_**

As Shinji´s ffull consciousness came back to his body, he heard Rei´s scream.

A plume of smoke wafted from Unit-01 ´s lower back. A single plate of armor slid out, and a charred plug was ejected from the colossus´ body. The armor slid back into place, a few wisps of smoke still came out, but the damage was minimal, and mostly cosmetic.

Yui Ikari´s voice came back into Shinji´s mind. _´I have control again, Son. Whatever that thing was, it is done for.´_

Shinji´s jaw set forth with anger and purpose. _´Good. My synch rate is rising.´_

With a mental order, the giant ran again, rising up from the kneeling position it was in with a fluid movement. At the same time, the umbilical cable was ejected from its back, falling heavily over the trees. The pallet rifle lay behind, abandoned where it had fallen.

Unit-01´s battery counter began its race towards zero.

* * *

 ** _Tokyo-3, NERV HQ_**

 ** _Central Dogma, 06:49 P.M._**

For the second time that day, Commander Ikari´s fist slammed against the desk. The Third Child was completely out of his control. He swallowed his anger, and after a few seconds, his cold, callous mask was set again over his face. Fujitsuki's voice almost startled him. "It seems he finally found his courage."

"Unit-01 is arriving to Unit-00´s position." Lt. Aoba informed before Ikari could think of an answer.

With an effort, Commander Ikari sat back on his chair, looking at the holoprojection.

* * *

 ** _In Route to Tokyo-3, Mount Nobe_**

 ** _EVA-00´s Original Designated Position; Same Time_**

As it jumped over the last hill, EVA-01 landed with an impressive lack of noise. Unit-03 still held Unit-00 to the ground. Shinji took a single, fleeting moment to assess the situation. He saw the plug sticking out from Unit-03´s back, held fast by a web of gray filaments.

Unit-01´s right hand took the progressive knife out, and weighted it a couple of times. Narrowing its eyes, Unit-01 jumped at its enemy, tackling it away from Unit-00. Shinji whispered a word, _**"L´zoril!"**_ A brief flash of light shone from the purple EVA´s hands; Unit-03 trembled for a second. Its lighning fast movements now were sluggish, as if it was moving in molasses.

The progressive knife flashed in the twilight sun´s rays, descending once, twice on the possessed EVA´s body. With a kick on its lower back, the black mechanoid was propelled away, crashing face first against the side of the mountain.

Unit-01 knelt, setting its hands on the ground. The purple EVA jumped again, grabbing Unit-03 by the torso, knocking it to the ground, and rolling mountain down.

EVA-03 pushed its enemy away. The purple EVA rolled away, and stood up in a fluid move. The knife spun in its hand, from pointing down the fist, to pointing up. Both EVAs circled around each other. Suddenly, Unit-03 roared, breaking the jaw constrains, and shot its right hand at EVA-01, the arm stretched impossibly, three, four, five body lenghts, until it grabbed the purple giant´s left arm.

Shinji grunted at the contact, a burning sensation burst into his own arm; he pushed it down, focusing on the fight. The progressive knife flashed again, this time, severing the black hand of the Angel. The apendage fell down to the ground, staining the earth with a greyish fluid.

* * *

 ** _Tokyo-3, NERV HQ_**

 ** _Central Dogma, 06:50 P.M._**

Maya´s eyes widened at the deliberate violence EVA-01 was unleashing on the Angel. Her hands covered her mouth. She felt sick at the display. Unit-03´s pilot would be in terrible pain, feeling the wound in his own body.

Behind his tinted eyeglasses, Commander Ikari´s eyes shone with satisfaction. _´He's fighting as if his life depended on killing the Angel. Good. Once he realizes he´s killing the pilot, his spirit will be crushed.´_ He spared a glance at the energy counter for Unit-01, it was running down to zero. _´He better hurry up and deliver a killing blow.'_ He didn´t care that a killing blow on the Angel would likely killl the pilot too.

* * *

 ** _In Route to Tokyo-3, Mount Nobe_**

 ** _EVA-00´s Original Designated Position; Same Time_**

Unit-03 roared in pain. It retracted its elongated arms. Its flesh bubbled and twisted, and a new hand appeared. It raised it up on front of its face, and closed it into a fist. Somehow, the bare knuckles bubbled up again, and bone spikes grew out from them.

Shinjiá eyes narrowed. _´Stretchable arms with bone spurs?_ ´He thought. _´Well... That´s something you don´t see everyday. At least on Earth.'_

He directed Unit-01 to circle around the enemy, alert for the attack. It didn´t take long, the arms strectched again, Shinji grabbed both with EVA's left hand, and with a sharp elbow strike, broke them both with a sickening noise. A feeling of approval burst from the Evangelion´s core.

Without releasing the broken arms, , Shinji whispered **_"L´Zoril"_** again. The black EVA swayed on its feet, moment that Shinji took advantage of. He pulled the arms so fast the enemy was lifted off its feet.

As the body came close, Unit-01 stabbed Unit-03 in the stomach with an upwards movement, burying the progressive knife deep into the black EVA. Shinji twisted the blade, and opened the wound even more. Unit-03 screamed in pain.

* * *

 ** _Tokyo-3, NERV HQ_**

 ** _Central Dogma, 06:51 P.M._**

Maya´s mouth hung open, unable to believe her eyes. Her fellow bridge bunnies watched the images with similar expressions on their faces. How could Shinji, one of the most gentle kids they had ever met, be capable of such violence?

Even Commander Ikari was surprised.

Maya´s stomach rebelled at what she was seeing. She turned her face away from the images, but the sounds of the battle were all around her.

* * *

 ** _In Route to Tokyo-3, Mount Nobe_**

 ** _EVA-00´s Original Designated Position; Same Time_**

Unit-03 stumbled on its feet, like a boxer about to fall down. Shinji didn´t wait for that, EVA-01´s left hand knifed into the wound, losing itself into the 13th Angel. A river of grayish fluid fell from the wound. With a sudden jerk, Unit-01 pulled its hand, holding a bright red sphere between its fingers.

It lifted it up towards the purple giant´s face, and squeezed with all its might.

Unit-03´s tainted core, Bardiel´s core, broke into a million fragments.

The black EVA finally fell down. The long arms retracted back into their original lenght

Unit-01´s counter clicked its last ten seconds warning.

Shinji whispered " ** _Shazam."_** And darkness enveloped him. With the last seconds of energy ticking down, he opened channels.

* * *

 ** _Tokyo-3, NERV HQ_**

 ** _Central Dogma, 06:51:48 P.M._**

Maya struggled to contain the bile that threatened to rise up and escape her stomach.

Shinji´s calm voice broke the terrified silence. "I need you to send three rescue crews."

Makoto answered with some hesitation. "Shinji, we... we are not receiving any life signals from Unit-03... I fear the pilot is... dead."

* * *

 ** _Author Notes:_**

A couple of references I want to explain. The word **_"Shazam!"_** is Billy Batson´s magic word, to transform from a normal kid, into the superpowerful Captain Marvel. I chose it for several reasons, it is easy to remember, and it helds a symbolic quality Shinji would probably like. Now, what did that do? Remember about the passenger in the EVA-s battery (mentioned in Chapter 2)? That was the signal for it to awake. Normally, the creature was to provide energy for the EVA, beyond the five minutes of the battery; this time, it was used to fry the Dummy Plug.

* * *

About L´Zoril. It also belongs to DC. L´Zoril is the name the green martians had for their god of dreams but it actually is Dream, of the Endless. It doesn´t has anything to do with D&D, but I thought the sound of the word was about right for a **_Sleep_** spell.

* * *

So, Shinji did cast a spell in battle, through the Evangelion. Now, I know the spell has VSM components, but Shinji is using the EVA´s magic to power his spells to EVA´s proportions, AND to schew the somatic and material components. It didn´t work exactly as the **_Sleep_** spell, as the Angels are made from some strange matter. So it worked more like **_Power Word: Stun_** , with a Range of Contact. Still, it worked to Shinji´s advantage.


	12. As the Dust Settles Down

**_Tokyo-3 Arcana_**

 ** _Note_** _, the parenthesis indicate languages other than Japanese, in this case, German.  
_ ** _Please Read and Review._** _I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it)._

* * *

 ** _Chapter 12_**

 ** _As the Dust Settles Down_**

* * *

 ** _ ** _Tokyo-3, NERV HQ  
Central Dogma, 06:51:58 P.M._**_**

Shinji's calm voice broke the terrified silence in Central Dogma. "I need you to send three rescue crews."

Makoto answered with some hesitation. "Shinji, we are not receiving any life signals from Unit-03... I fear the pilot is... dead."

"I have only a few seconds left, send the three crews. I assure you, the other pilots might be all a little banged up, but I doubt it's bad. Just do me a favor, check on the signal from the _plug_ , not from Unit-03."

Unit-01 energy counter reached 0:00:00. The comms channel crackled off.

* * *

Makoto hesitated for a moment, before doing as Shinji had suggested. "I can't believe it! He's right. I have a signal from the plug, it's very weak, but steady."

Maya gasped, "You mean..?" Her fingers quickly tapped a series of commands on her console, verifying the information. "…the Fourth Child is alive and well?" A slow smile full of relief appeared on her face.

Makoto looked at her. "Shinji got the plug out _before_ going to town on the Angel!" The relief he felt was evident in his voice. "When did he do it?" he hissed, more for himself than anybody else. He turned towards the Perch. "Commander Ikari, extraction of Unit-03's plug confirmed. Permission to send the recovery crews to its current position? Sir?"

"I'm afraid the Commander has left Central Dogma, Lt. Hyuga." Answered Vice-Commander Fujutsuki. "Still, permission granted."

"Yes, Sir." Makoto smiled.

"But… when did he got the plug out?" Aoba repeated Makoto's question, at nobody in particular.

"That's a question for another moment, Lt. Aoba. Right now, we have four pilots to recover."

"Yes, sir." Shigeru unhooked a phone, and began instructing the crews already in place.

* * *

 ** _Tokyo-3, NERV HQ  
Commander Ikari's Office, 07:02 P.M._**

Gendo Ikari sat at his massive desk, fuming. Despite his insubordination, the Third Child had killed the Angel with a brutal efficiency he hadn't expected from him. Somehow, despite all the money, resources, and effort sunk into the project, the Dummy Plug had failed its first field test. That was a setback. A very annoying setback. He would have to do major damage control during his next meeting with the old men.

The brat had somehow managed to kill the Angel, after rescuing the sacrificial lamb he had placed for him to kill or maim, breaking his own spirit in the process. The plan had been simpler than anything. Just force the Third Child to either fight against one of his worthless friends; or to be an impotent participant of the same killing or maiming thanks to the Dummy Plug releasing all the savagery of the Evangelion itself.

But that plan had failed.

Not only that, the Third Child had managed to _not_ destroy Unit-03! That could be a problem later on. At a minimum, he would have to stretch the budget until his Scenario could be enacted…

"Damned Third Child!" He whispered, alone in his lair. "But there is more than a way to break you." He picked up the phone, and pressed a button. He had a call to make.

* * *

 ** _Tokyo-3 Subway Tunnels  
Abandoned Side Tunnel Nr. 6, Section 26-D  
07:16 P.M._**

A gang of six goblins looked desperately for an exit. They had gotten lost a while before, and now were deep into the areas still in construction that had been left unfinished when the Third Angel appeared. Their stomachs growled almost constantly. They had been hunting for rats and other vermin, but this deep into the system, prey was rare.

The leader, Gurk, was very aware that unless he found some food soon, the rest of the tribe might very well dispense with any pretense of obedience and make him into goblin stew. No, they wouldn't do that.

They had no water. They would roast him, yes, that would be better. He imagined a nice, hot, piece of juicy meat, ready to eat. He began to salivate a little.

Suddenly, the goblins glimpsed a small light in the distance, they fell silent as one, and took out their dogslicers. There was prey here!

* * *

The goblins finally had something to eat. A longshanks had wandered into the tunnel, waving around a strange lightstick. The goblins hid quickly between the abandoned containers and miscellaneous refuse left behind by the construction crews.

The longshanks walked strangely, just like a gob who had drank stinkwater. He was making strange noises. When he got closer, the goblins could finally understand his words, he was singing!

Badly!

"…Fly me to da moooooon…" The longshanks hiccuped, and took a swig from a bottle before continuing, "..AAAN led me play amonnn da staaars..!"

Had there been such a thing, the goblins would have won a contest for Synchronized Predatory Grins.

* * *

 ** _In Route to Tokyo-3, Mount Nobe  
EVA-02's Designated Position; 07:26 P.M._**

A bright light inundated the Entry Plug. Asuka shielded her eyes with a hand. "Okay, what happened?" She growled at the recovery team.

"Well… What's the last thing you remember during the fight, Pilot Soryu?" the woman shone a small light on her right eye, watching the pupil contract, and comparing it with the other eye a moment later.

"Unit-03 jumped at me and crushed the bazooka against Unit-02's face. It hurt like hell. That's it."

"Hmm… Well, yes. That checks." The woman moved a finger in front of Asuka's face. Dutifully, the German-raised pilot followed it with her eyes. "Headache? Dizziness? Nausea?"

"Headache, yes. Not too bad." It was the usual procedure after recovery, especially when a pilot had been knocked out. Resistance was futile, and the only thing it would earn her was a longer stay at the hospital. "What happened after that Gott-damned Angel put me to sleep? I guess we won."

" _He_ did." It was obvious to deduce to whom she referred. "The guys who actually watched the fight say the Third Child was amazing. Finished the fight in a flash."

Asuka sulked a bit. "Of course he did…" a hint of bitterness tinged her voice. "Invincible Shinji-Sama! All Hail the All-Mighty Slayer of Angels!" She paused, realizing that he might have used some magic to end the fight as fast as he could. She hoped that was the case, and her anger melted away.

Not following her train of thoughts, the woman snorted. "Don't be like that." The woman helped Asuka put an evac-harness. "The Thirteenth Angel was quite a monster." Soon, the pilot was out of the plug, and ready to descend to the ground.

"It was a damned freak!" Inwardly, Asuka wondered if Shinji had seen something even remotely alike in that other world. Suddenly, her bitterness went down another notch. _Of course_ Shinji had won! Five years of combat training with an _expert_ fighter! Still, having been taken out by surprise hurt her pride.

The recovery team already had a crane set and ready. The woman signaled the ground crew, and Asuka felt the rigging tense as the crane lowered her to the ground, where a team helped her down. A moment later, the woman descended too. "Come, I have to do a more in-depth check."

Suddenly, Asuka froze. "What about the other pilots? What happened to the one in Unit-03?"

"I don't know, there's another team at the place. But we operate independently, you know."

"Yeah… Hey, can you get somebody to tell me?"

"I'll ask. But right now, you need a check-up."

Asuka nodded and walked to the mobile hospital. _'I need to check on the others,'_ she thought. "Any news from Matsushiro?"

The woman paled a little, even in the harsh light of the field lights, it was noticeable. "They are still working. Word is they haven't located anybody yet."

* * *

 ** _In Route to Tokyo-3, Mount Nobe  
00 Field Recovery Team Site,  
Near EVA-01's Designated Position; Same Time_**

Rei Ayanami sat on a folding chair, alone and hurt in the middle of the hive of activity around her. She held her left arm against her chest, remembering the awful pain she had felt. First, the acid burns. followed by the ripping of her arm. The EVA-s arm. But as she was still synched with it, it had felt as if her own arm had exploded in agony.

 _'Why didn't the Commander wait..?'_ It was the thought that kept running through her mind. _'Major Katsuragi would have waited. It was only a three second delay. I could have endured that pain…'_

She was surprised at the strange emotional responses she experienced. The only other time she could remember something similar was…

…When she had slapped Pilot Ikari.

However, there was another emotion in the mix. It was… annoyingly persistent.

As she had no real experience with that particular emotion, she had no way to name it. And as she had no one to ask, it disturbed her. Normally, she would have asked the Commander about it, but some old instinct warned her not to. Dr. Akagi? No. She had been of very limited help last time she had asked her about emotions, dismissing her concerns as irrelevant.

Maybe Pilot Ikari would know… She would have to ask him later.

For the moment, she just stayed there, sitting on the folding chair; while the recovery crew prepared Unit-00 for transport back to the GeoFront.

Eventually, somebody would come to pick her up.

In the meanwhile, she could only remember, and think.

* * *

 ** _In Route to Tokyo-3, Mount Nobe  
03 Field Recovery Team Site,  
Near EVA-01's Designated Position; Same Time_**

"Damned fine job this!" From his place on a cage at the top of a crane, the chief of the recovery crew examined the damage on Unit-03 and whistled softly. "Hey, Mahiro; check on this." He pointed at the cut on the belly area.

"Clean cut, sir. Progressive knifes do that."

"Oh, yeah, can cut through a 15 inches solid steel plate, and still have enough edge to shame those old knife ads. Still, Mr. Purple put its hand through this, and basically showed Unit-03 its own heart! The hole is wider, but the edges are clean."

"A noticeable small amount of damage, sir. Now that I see." The sub-chief whistled softly. "The guys at EVA Maintenance 01 are setting up a betting pool. How long will it take us to repair Unit-03. They have almost nothing to repair on Unit-01. It seems all the damage it got this time was a couple of scorched armor plates at the back, plus assorted scratches and scuffing. I think they might only need to clean and paint."

"Really? Put me in with a week. No, six days. This guy only has to have its core replaced, and two arms broken. we can have it back on its feet really soon." He rubbed his chin, thinking. "Hey, add a clause. The bet is cancelled if Akagi doesn't clear the Unit. The time starts running when Akagi authorizes us to work!"

"Right; I'll tell them that." Mahiro adjusted the position of the crane. "It could have been much worse, if the Third Child's performance against the Third Angel is any indication." He paused. "Sir. The ground crew is signaling. They have the main anchor points ready. They await for your signal to lift Unit-03 to the transport platform."

The chief spoke on his radiocomm. "OK, guys, we have a bet against the guys at Maintenance 01! We need to get this baby back to the cages and check it from top to bottom for any residual contamination! Then we get to put it back on its feet! Move it, people! We have a bet to win!"

* * *

 ** _In Route to Tokyo-3, Mount Nobe  
EVA-01's Recovery Site; 07:32 P.M._**

"At last." Shinji stood in the Entry Plug when the hatch opened. Seeing the two guys from Section-2 hanging down from the evac harnesses, their usually immaculately pressed black suits messed up by the straps, made him smile a bit. Still, it was obvious why it was them instead of the Recovery Team. "What took you so long?"

The oldest of the two spoke rigidly, "Third Child, you are under arrest for insubordination, hijacking an Evangelion Unit and whatever else the Commander decides."

"Sure, if you can lend me a couple of permanent markers and wait a few minutes, I'll gladly add vandalism to the list. I think Unit-01 would look smashing with a moustache and a monocle." He smiled to show them it was just a joke.

The two burly men exchanged a look, from behind their sunglasses.

The chief shrugged and turned back at Shinji. "Don't resist, there's a whole team down there."

"Not even dreaming of that. I'll go quietly. Do you want to handcuff me here or down there?"

The two exchanged another look, one that clearly said _'I'm not getting paid enough for this.'_

* * *

 ** _In Route to Tokyo-3, Mount Nobe  
EVA-01's Recovery Site; 07:35 P.M._**

"Hey, help me out with the hatch!" a short man yelled. "It's a bit twisted out of alignment! We need to force it!"

A crew jumped down from the personnel transport truck, one of them had a crowbar, and used it on the edge of the hatch. At first, it had no effect, but with the help of two of his team mates, the hatch popped open. A flood of LCL came out the Entry Plug.

The man peeked inside. Finding an unconscious Toji Suzuhara inside, his body completely limp, he had fallen sideways against the side of the Entry Plug. Quickly, the man put two fingers under the kid's jaw, and waited.

"He's got pulse and is breathing, both are steady; team! Call the doc!"

* * *

 ** _Tokyo-3, NERV Hospital; Room 326  
07:36 P.M._**

Mr. Suzuhara watched as his daughter finally stopped trashing in her sleep. For a very long time, the child had been suffering from nightmares. Reliving the long time she had been trapped by debris during the Third Angel attack.

This time, her bad dreams were different, she muttered her brother's name again and again. It seemed she was more scared than she looked like before the NERV medical team had brought her here. Her worry about her brother's new job was clear to see; even though nobody, as far as Mr. Suzuhara could tell, had said anything to Sakura about exactly what Toji would be doing for NERV to pay her medical treatments.

* * *

 ** _NERV Secondary Base at Matsushiro  
Above the Ruins of the Control Bridge, 08:52 P.M._**

"Make way! Make way! Casualties coming thru!" An urgent voice cleared the space around the ingress shaft. Ryoji Kaji looked up, hoping to see his friends.

It took the rescuers a long time to stabilize the place. Finally, they could enter the place to look for survivors.

Hope flared in Kaji's heart, but no, the first survivor was one of the local bridge bunnies, a tall man who usually scowled at anything and everything. Kaji cleared the way of the paramedics, who promptly moved the injured man to a field hospital for checking. After the first man, another team brought the next victim. Another bridge bunny, this one female, unconscious. It was clear she had at least a broken arm.

Kaji kept on working, he only took a moment to wipe his forehead with a sleeve, the field lights shone brightly over the place, heating the air. He felt like he was in a desert.

A couple of men were conscious enough to direct the rescue crews to places they might find more survivors. So far, only one fatality had been found. A guard who had been crushed to death by a vending machine; ironically, the man was well known for his distaste for the prepackaged snacks in that machine.

Kaji kept on working.

* * *

 ** _Tokyo-3, Horaki Household  
Same Time._**

"Well, I guess that's all we can do for the moment. Your stars are different than mine. I can't wait to learn all their names and tales, Hikari." Limiry lay down on the soft grass, enjoying the night breeze.

HIkari laid down too, she sighed, looking up to the sky. "You should have seen them a while back. We had a few hours without electricity, and the sky was so clear that night. You could see many more stars than now."

"Yeah… I guess the lights here are too bright. Still, the stars we can see now are beautiful. Desna's beautiful gift. They remind us that the night is not a time for fear, but for resting and appreciating our lives."

Next to them, Nozomi slept peacefully. It was way past her bedtime, and the child just couldn't keep awake for long. After two unsuccessful tries to get her to her bed, Hikari covered her with a warm blanket, rolling another for her to use as a pillow. Once she and Limiry finished the lesson, the three would go back to the house.

* * *

 ** _Tokyo-3 Subway Tunnels  
Abandoned Side Tunnel Nr. 6, Section 26-D  
09:37 P.M._**

The goblins had eaten their fill, and between spectacular burps and patting of bellies, were passing the bottle around. Actually, they were fighting to take the bottle from each other.

* * *

 ** _Author Notes._**

Not much to add this time. Shinji is quite a bit OOC this time. The magical cat is not yet out of the bag, but it is definitively peeking out; the battle cat is certainly out by now. Shinji has a lot of aggression to work out, and being cheeky is one way of dealing with that. Escalla's influence, no doubt.

Curiously, I find myself very interested in the little scenes we didn´t see in the original series. I love to write the big scenes (the fight against Bardiel was one of my motivations to write this story. I just thought how would the Justicar manage the fight, and it came up to my mind almost blow by blow), but the little vignettes allow me to develop characters and themes.


	13. News, news, and more news

_**Tokyo-3 Arcana**_

* * *

Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it).

* * *

 _ **Chapter 13**_

 _ **Good News, Not So Good News, No News, Intriguing News, and Very Bad News**_

* * *

 _ **NERV Secondary Base at Matsushiro  
Temporary Field Hospital;  
Close to the Ruins of the Control Bridge, 10:28 P.M.**_

"You were very lucky, Misato." Kaji hesitated for a second, before taking her right hand in his. "I'm glad. Very glad to see you again." He abstained from telling her about the nine dead bodies he had seen carried away to a mobile morgue. "I think you were the last to be found. You were the closest to the edge of the event..."

"What happened?" she moaned.

Kaji licked his lips before answering; he was really thirsty after several hours of hard work, but that could wait for a while. "An Angel posessed Unit-03. It caused an explosion that knocked down most of the cages, dragging down the Central Dogma area. Something fell over you, but Ritsuko got it worse. They just evacuated her to the hospital. You are not in any immediate danger, but you'll have to keep those bandages for a few days."

She nodded. "I feel like I was on a week-long bender..." she groaned. Misato almost jumped from the gurney when she remembered. "Oh, god... I hadn't the chance to tell Shinji! I need a phone, please."

"Misato, you are hurt." Softly, he pushed her back down on the gurney.

"I don't care. Get me to a phone." She tried to get up again, Kaji grabbed her shoulders as softly as he could, and pushed her back down again. Misato resisted a bit, wincing when she noticed the pain in her left forearm.

He pulled his own cellphone and gave it to her. Misato fumbled with the device, trying to input the number with her right hand. She was unusually clumsy.

"Allow me." he took it back and asked, "Central Dogma?"

"Yes." She nodded, wincing at the pain in her arm. A few seconds later, Kaji held the phone to her ear.

"Maya? Major Katsuragi." she gulped while Maya spoke. "A little hurt, but more or less okay. I need to speak to Shinji. Can you transfer the call?" A brief pause as the petite lieutenant answered. "What? Why? Who gave that order?"

Kaji frowned. He had heard some partial reports. Supposedly, Unit-01 had disabled the Angel. He had few details.

"But he's okay, right?" a sigh of relief followed Maya's inaudible answer. "Did somebody tell him about the Fourth Child?" a long pause. Misato sighed in relief. "Are the other pilots okay too?"

Misato seemed to be about to cry. "Thank you, Maya." A pause. "She's on her way to the hospital." She looked interrogatively at Kaji.

The badly shaven man guessed her question and took the phone from Misato's hand. "Dr. Akagi has a couple fractures and maybe a concussion. She has to be un observation for a few hours before they can say if she's released or not. What about the pilots?"

Misato laid down again while Kaji relayed the news. "Asuka and Rei are okay. A bit worse for wear, but nothing beyond residual sympathetic pain from their synching with the EVAs." His eyes opened wide at the next part, "Shinji was arrested for insubordination and taken to the brig." He paused. "Toji is still unconscious and under watch at the hospital. Whatever that God-damned Angel did to hijack Unit-03, they guess."

A couple of paramedics arrived. "Major Katsuragi? We will transport you to the hospital now, we have many injured; so, hopefully, you won't need to stay beyond tonight. Do you want somebody to accompany you?"

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3, NERV Hospital; Room 107  
Next Day (Monday); 7:42 A.M.**_

"I just can't explain t, Dr. Namiya. The Fourth Child should have woken hours ago!"

The older doctor checked the vital signs of his new patient. "Agreed. There is absolutely no sign of any brain injury that could cause such an alteration of sleep patterns."

"At first we thought he might have hit his head and slipped into a coma, but there's no detectable physical trauma, and the brainwaves are completely wrong for that." The young doctor scratched his head in amazement. "For all the readings and samples we have taken, young Suzuhara is simply sleeping."

"Keep him under watch, I want to know whenever his state changes."

Outside the room, a very scared man paced, waiting for the doctors to come out the room and tell him what was wrong with his son.

On the bed, Toji Suzuhara lay on his back, several sensors were attached to his body, monitoring his life signs, and sending their readings into a medical analyzer.

The only sound coming from him is the soft hiss of his breathing.

Toji Suzuhara sleeps.

And dreams.

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3, GeoFront  
NERV HQ; Brig, Cell 17, 8:00 A.M.**_

Shinji Ikari lay on the hard cot of the small, dark cell he had been thrown in the previous night. The Commander hadn't deigned to be present during the process.

The pilot was keeping his emptions under control. In fact, the hard bed even had helped him to sleep. As he woke up, he ran down a mental checklist. He was in good health, his fight against the Thirteenth Angel had gone well.

Jus would have approved. Polk, not so much. Not enough style for him. It had been just a brutal, very one-sided brawl. Just the way the Justicar had taught him to do. Hard and decisive.

Had he had the time, he would have observed the Angel for a couple of minutes before engaging, but he discarded that advantage to spare Rei the pain she had obviously suffered. Still, Shinji thought Jus would have approved. A single nod of his head had been high praise from the grim ranger back on Oerth.

Shinji smiled at the thought. Escalla would have wolf-whistled her approval. More than once, Shinji had heard the faerie princess comment on how much she loved to see the Justicar release his more than respectable battle prowess on a bunch of enemies deserving of a serving of apocalyptic fury and justice.

The Third Child was in no hurry to get out. He knew it would be only a matter of time. Still, he was very worried. So far, he hadn't gotten word of what had happened at Matsushiro. Misato could be hurt or… No. The Major had to be alive.

Shinji needed to speak to Asuka, or at least send her a message; yes, that would be best. The German raised girl needed to keep on with her learning of magic. And he feared the girl could get impatient.

Toji was also a cause for worry. He had used two EVA-scaled spells to gain an advantage against the Thirteenth Angel, and he was not sure of what effect the magic could have had on a human. What he was sure of was that Toji had been knocked down, asleep during the fight, sparing him the pain of the EVA unit. If, and it was a big if, he hadn't been affected, the jock would have been in a world of pain.

Still, Shinji stuck to his teacher's lessons. There were things he couldn't affect. Obstacles were to be dealt with. There were several ways to do it. Avoid, surround, nullify, or destroy.

He had decided this time, it would be better to simply keep his head down for a while, let the Commander think the stint in jail had cowed him into submission. Of course, being able to get out of his cell with a simple spell was a major factor on his peace of mind.

However, the first thing he had to make sure of, was his own fighting condition _. 'Lets keep this to just between me and me, okay?'_ He thought.

Before getting up, he looked around the dark cell. Somehow, he was sure there would be cameras looking at him. The Commander wasn't somebody to leave anything to chance.

So, hiding his hands under the thin blanket, he contorted his fingers and whispered a word, " _Noctaris_ ", and the darkness in the cell, a mere absence of light, was replaced by a very different darkness. Magical darkness, impenetrable to normal light. And, according to several sources, it could even block infrared light.

Right now or very soon, somebody would be running around like a headless chicken, he thought, amused.

' _Ah, well… let's use the time.'_ He didn't even need to see to know the place. His ears were tuned to a myriad of clues the echoes gave. Just by ear, he knew exactly where the walls were; and by memory, the places of the cot, sink and toilet. The young man stood, and began with a series of exercises, to loosen up his muscles and joints, and to keep up his strength. He was still thin as a rake, but his muscles were like steel cables. Shinji was deceptively strong for his age, size and weight, as many monsters and villains had found out to their, not too long, surprise.

While he continued with his routine, he dedicated half an ear to any noises from the outside. He wasn't disappointed. Eight minutes later, he heard hurrying steps coming from the upper level.

Smirking to himself. Shinji returned to his cot, using the blanket as a towel to make sure there was no sweat on his face. Once he laid down again in the same position he woke up, he whispered, " _Dhawnar_ "; and the magical darkness was replaced by its natural counterpart.

The small slot that served to pass food to the prisoners opened up brusquely; a beam of light fell squarely over Shinji's eyes. He didn't have to pretend much that the light was annoying. "Wha..?"

Somebody looked inside the cell, the eyes swept carefully over all the cell. At least the part visible from the outside.

Several minutes later, a plate of food was slid inside. Shinji took it.

It wasn't exactly up to his standards, but he was not put out by it either. More than a few times, during the previous five years back on Oerth, he had to eat far worse things. Both as part of his training with the Justicar, and other times due to sheer need. He sniffed the food carefully, taking care to mask a spell to make sure there was no 'extras' in his meal.

He didn't trust the Commander to not drug him.

 _Detect Poison_ was a very handy spell to know. He made a mental note to make sure Asuka learned it as soon as possible. The way things were changing around here it would be prudent to be cautious.

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3  
Katsuragi/Ikari/Soryu Apartment, 9:16 A.M.**_

Asuka paced around the living room. She was full of nervous energy. She knew she should calm herself, but she still hadn't received any news of Shinji or Misato.

Just when she was about to reach for the phone and call NERV HQ, the door opened. "…I'm home…". If her voice was any clue, Misato was bone tired and in some pain.

"Finally! What happened, Misato? Where's Shinji?" Asuka stopped when she saw the state Misato was in. Next to her, Kaji held her with a hand. A spike of jealaousy flared in her heart, but it was brief and surprisingly small. "Are you okay? Kaji, is Misato okay?"

"Better than Rits, at least. Shouldn't you be at school?"

Misato interrupted the exchange "Could somebody get me a beer?"

Behind her, Kaji shook his head in the negative. "Are you out of your mind? You sound like you're medicated to the gills! A beer now could kill you!" She turned at Kaji "We just had a big Angel fight yesterday. I'm automatically excused from school the next day. Remember?" Kaji smiled at Asuka, glad the redhead had caught the warning.

"Yeah… right. I forgot."

"Coffee then..?" Misato insisted.

"Warm milk and that's my last offer." Crossing her arms with absolute finality, Asuka glared at her guardian.

"I'll take it…" Asuka and Kaji guided Misato to the kitchen table, and helped her to sit down.

"Okay, will somebody tell me what happened yesterday? You look like you got caught in whatever happened at Matsushiro." the german pilot hissed, while she fussed with the stove. "Where are the Baka and Wonder Girl? And what about Jock-Stooge?"

Misato held a hand against her bandaged head, biting her lower lip. "Not so loud, Asuka, please. My head is killing me… A building fell on me yesterday. I am lucky not to be worse."

Kaji took a moment to hand Misato a couple of pain-killers. Part of the treatment some doctor or another had insisted on. While the Major swallowed them along a few gulps of water, the scruffy looking man explained. "The explosion at Masushiro, was the Thirteenth Angel waking up and possessing Unit-03." At Asuka's impatient 'I already know that.' glare, Kaji decided to skip to the important part. "When the Angel knocked you down, Shinji broke ranks, and went to help you. By the time he arrived to Unit-00's position, the Angel already had attacked Rei. Shinji arrived right on time."

"My sources tell me it was a very short fight. He said he would be very careful not to get into Shinji's bad side, just in case he can do even a quarter of the things he did to the Angel outside the EVA."

The UN Inspector expected some rant from Asuka, but the redheaded pilot simply nodded. "It was about time he took the kid things seriously. What did he do to it?" Inside she was almost _cheering_ for Shinji!

Kaji rubbed his chin. This was not the way Asuka would normally react… "Well… He broke Unit-03's arms with an elbow strike, and then went aztek on it." He realized then that Misato as looking at him sideways with a face full of disbelief.

Asuka arched an eyebrow. "Aztek?"

Recognizing the warning signs, Kaji hurried up to finish the story. "He basically pulled out Unit-03's heart and showed it to the Angel."

Misato raised her head after hearing that. "Shinji did that? Really?"

"So my sources tell me. I guess there might be some exaggeration thrown in, but the fight records should clear it."

Misato sighed. "Kaji, I need you to take me to NERV, I have to talk to Shinji and find out why he disobeyed orders. I need to apologize too. I should have told him about Toji."

"The reason is obvious." Asuka threw her hands up. "Commander Ikari is a moron. We had to deploy in a line, like stupid mooks in a videogame! We couldn't even see each other!"

"So you agree with Shinji on this?" Kaji smirked, awaiting for the inevitable explosion.

Asuka glared at him again. "Yes. Even he realized just how idiotic the Commander's plan was."

While Asuka poured the milk in a mug, she looked at Misato. "You don´t really need to apologize for that. Shinji already knew. He finally decided to use that lump of gray matter between his ears and realized who the Fourth Child was way before we were called to NERV."

Misato´s jaw fell. It took her almost twenty seconds to reboot her mind. "Still. I want to. I should made the time. Both as an officer and as his friend."

Asuka shrugged. "If it makes you feel better, go ahead. I doubt he would hold that against you."

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3  
Ayanami Apartment; 9:40 A.M.**_

Rei Ayanami rested on her threadbare bed. Trying to come to terms with recent events. After a pair of Section-2 Agents brought her to her dilapidated building, she had skipped her meagre dinner of instant soup and dehydrated vegetables, and went directly to bed. She still felt some residual pains in her left arm, both from the Angel's attack, and from the detonation of EVA-00's arm. The only thing to do about then was to rest and wait. Using any type of pain relief medicament could clash with her main regime of chemicals. And in any case, the effect they had on sympathetic pain was too small.

So, Rei Ayanami rested, waited, and thought.

She wasn't immune to introspection. In fact, it could be said she was particularly vulnerable to it, due to her extremely limited social interactions.

However, and despite her life-long indoctrination into Commander Ikari's Scenario, she had started to feel…

What?

Before she could refine her query to herself, she saw something move in the window by the corner of her eye. She turned her head just in time to see a gigantic spider enter her apartment. It was bigger than a dinner plate. Not that the creature could fit over a dinner plate, the abdomen of the creature was by itself bigger than said dinner plate.

Detachedly, Rei watched the spider move carefully towards her. She ran through a series of possible actions. Slowly and calmly, she extended her hand towards her school bag. It was still full with the books from last week. She wrapped her hand on the cloth strip, and waited. After long minutes, finally the spider was at the right distance. With all her strength, Rei swung the bag over her bed.

* * *

 _ **Author Notes**_

Again, the verbal components for Shinji's magic are my creation. As a general rule, I think low level spells have short verbal components. One or two syllables for 0 or 1 Level spells. The higher the level, the longer the verbal component should be.

Both words sounded good to my ears, and each has a connection to the desired effect. _Noctaris_ to night, _Dhawnar_ to, well… dawn. _Dhawnar_ doesn't correspond to the verbal component of the _Light_ spell ( _Bewgath_ ), because in this case, it is used to cancel a _Darkness_ spell.

* * *

The long term effects of Toji's dreams will be revealed on time.

He will be a member of the party. With a mostly physical role, as we already have three magic users, a _Sorcerer_ (dual class, actually), plus a _Wizardress_ , and an _Acolyte_ in training. Now, both Shinji and Asuka will be using magic (more or less) as described in the _**Pathfinder Core Rulebook**_ ; but Hikari will eventually go into the _D20 Modern_ character class that´s closer to the traditional D&D _Cleric_. (The reason why Shinji and Asuka are the only ones who can use that kind of magic will be revealed later).

Currently, Toji is considered a _Strong Hero_ , Kensuke a _Smart Hero_ , and Hikari a _Dedicated Hero_. They will get their advanced classes after their first adventure/quest.


	14. Let's Talk About This for a While

_**Tokyo-3 Arcana**_

* * *

Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it).

* * *

 _ **Chapter 14**_

 _ **Let's Talk About This for a While.**_

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3  
Ayanami Apartment; 9:43 A.M.**_

Rei Ayanami knelt on the bare floor of her apartment, despite her lack of fear, carefully cultivated in her psyche by Commander Ikari; she was prudent enough to arm herself with an improvised weapon, a frying pan she took from the kitchen she barely used. She had considered taking a knife, but she didn't know how fast the creature could be, so she settled on a weapon with a wide area of impact. Very slowly, and ready to jump back, she approached the place where her school bag had smashed over the spider.

The blue-haired pilot could see the shiny black legs twitching feebly under the bag and a slowly spreading pool of malodorous ichor.

Carefully, she began to lift the bag; holding the frying pan at the ready to strike at the creature at the first sign of movement. The arachnid was dead. The last glimmer of reddish glow dimmed in its eight eyes, until they lost all their red color.

Its abdomen had burst with the impact, spreading guts and ichor all around her school bag. The contents were most probably ruined; especially the laptop. Rei had heard it break on impact against the hard floor.

Rei wrinkled her nose at the pungent odor. She prodded at the dead creature with the edge of the frying pan, while her mind calculated size, weight, and surface of the animal.

"It cannot exist. At this size and proportions, the spider wouldn't be able to even breathe efficiently, much less to move and stalk prey actively."

She realized she had not enough data to account for the undeniable fact that despite its own impossibility, a giant spider had entered into her apartment. Still with the pan at the ready, she snapped a couple of pictures with her cell phone; and after returning the device to her skirt pocket, she took a pencil out, and carefully lifted the head.

"Big chelicerae." She observed. "Probably strong enough to pierce leather or thick skin." A thick, greenish liquid oozed from the points of the fangs. "Probably has poison sacks, well developed."

While she studied the spider, a soft wind blew into the room. With it, the spider's body began to decompose rapidly. Rei's eyes opened wide in surprise, and she blinked twice. She hurried to grab a sealable container, and hurriedly scooped ichor a leg and the head into it using the edge of the frying pan. Once she thought there was enough evidence inside for a detailed analysis, she closed it hermetically.

Four minutes later, all that remained of the creature on the floor was a fine dust evaporating in the wind. Hardly a stain, marking the contour of its body remained. It was barely a discoloration on the dirty floor. As if somebody had made a half hearted attempt to clean the place.

Even the remains in the container evaporated into silvery mist.

"Need more data." She said, to no one in particular. Distractedly, she rubbed her shoulder. The sudden movement had reawakened the sympathetic pain from the fight with the Thirteenth Angel.

Her mind ran through several possibilities. In normal circumstances, Commander Ikari would been first in her list of reliable people to ask advice from, but the recent events had changed things. Dr. Akagi was out of commission temporarily. Lt. Ibuki was… approachable, but her clearance was low. Major Katsuragi, maybe, but she was either on medical leave for the day or coordinating rescue operations in the Matsushiro Secondary Base. Maybe Pilot Ikari. Yes. He had demonstrated acceptance of her and her… oddness. Rei was sure he would listen to her story with an open mind.

She changed into a clean school uniform, grabbed the container and her school bag, and put everything inside a plastic bag, a bag Pilot Ikari had left at her place some time before, to help her with any future cleanings of the apartment.

She would visit the Katsuragi apartment and ask him for his opinion.

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3, GeoFront  
NERV HQ; Brig, Cell 17, 09:50 A.M.**_

Shinji Ikari sat on the hard bench that doubled as bed in his solitary cell. The blast door had been opened, allowing Major Katsuragi to enter the cell. They had been occupied with small talk for the last few minutes. Occassionally, Shinji's eyes wandered towards the sling that held her right arm, and the cast that covered her forearm. While Misato's occassionally glared at the rough orange coverall he had been given.

"There's no deed to apologize for that, Misato. There was no time to tell me, and things went pear-shaped before you could straighten things up. I am really glad to see you're okay, Misato. I was worried. What about Rei, Asuka and Toji?" Shinji had a warm fuzzy feeling inside. Despite being technically on medical leave, Misato had managed to visit him in his cell. She had cashed in a few favors from the Brig crew.

Misato smiled sadly. "I got lucky, Shinji. Rei is okay, though she will be suffering from residual sympathetic pain for a few days. Toji is still asleep. I guess the Angel did a real number on him. Asuka is back home, she was the least harmed by all that happened. Rits is the one who got it worse, and your father will have her back at work tomorrow morning, the bast..." She interrupted herself. "Sorry."

In her embarrasment, Misato missed how Shinji's eyes, normally warm, friendly, and accepting, grew wider with worry at the mention of his jock friend; and then, colder than the Antarctic of her nightmares when his friend spoke about Commander Ikari's actions.

"No need to apologize for that either, I actually share your opinion." He shrugged, the look in his eyes signaled the end of that particular line of conversation.

She waved her hand to enphasize her next point, "Urm... well, yes. Still, I should keep my big mouth shut. Commanding officer and all that."

"No problem. How are things at home?"

"Oh, you know me, I just can't keep things in order without you."

Shinji rolled his eyes, and laughed. "Jeez, Misato. It's been only one day! I can't ask you to clean the apartment, but at least don't make a bigger mess!"

Misato smiled apologetically, "Sorry. It's just that Asuka is crankier than usual, must be the time of the month. I swear her hormones are going crazy. Half the time she's all silent and still, and the rest of the time she makes me feel like somebody lit a fuse or something. She looked torn between staying home or coming here."

"Maybe she just needs something to do." Shinji rubbed his chin thoughtfully. And an idea arrived. "Hey, that reminds me, she and I bet laundry duty, and she still owes me two weeks. Please remind her to use some softener."

Her eyes brightened, "Really? A bet? And you bet laundry duty? You should have bet a kiss or something like that." Almost since she met Shinji, she thought he and Asuka would make a good couple, as they could compensate for each other's shortcomings. In part, that was the reason she had invited Asuka to live with them, and the synch training had been mostly an excuse.

However, Shinji's face became hard, instead of blushing like she expected. "Don't joke about that, Misato. Please."

"What did I say?" She realized then she had stepped into a minefield and backstepped. "Oh, sorry. It seems today I'm brained in the addle."

Shinji couldn't help but chuckle at her obvious attempt for humor and shrugged dismissively. "Just leave it. I'm not in the mood to talk about that." She tried to shrug too, but winced at the sudden pain in her shoulder. Shinji took note of that, for a few seconds he was torn between the need to keep his magic secret, and the need to help his friends. The voice of the Justicar rang clear in his memory. _"You never leave your people behind, never."_ Misato would recover eventually, but … Sighing, he took his decision.

"You should go home and rest, Misato. I'm not going anywhere for a while, it seems." Just as she opened her mouth to argue, Shinji continued, "We will speak later, okay?" Shinji's eyes shot up for a second, towards the surveillance camera; warning her from saying anything. "Do me a favor, will you? There is a small bottle in my backpack, at home. It has a red mark of paint in the cork."

Misato's brow furrowed. "You want me to bring it here, right? What is it? Some kind of energy drink?"

"No, and before you ask, it's not alcoholic nor any drug. It's... something else. I want you to drink it. Tell Asuka I told you to. You'll feel better. I promise, I will explain everything later." Shinji released her hand, and continued. "There are things I'd like to tell you, in private." Numbly, she nodded, realizing he had packed more than the obvious meaning in his words.

Just what in the name of all the kami had happened to Shinji inside that damned Angel? He still was that sweet kid who took care of her, although it should have been the other way around, but now it seemed there was a steel core in him. Would the surprises ever end?

She decided to have a long talk with her ward once he was released from the brig. A guard walked to the door of the cell, and tapped the bars twice. He looked at the pair, and said, "Sorry to interrupt, Major, but visit time is over. You should go back home and rest."

Shinji stood up, and helped Misato to her feet. As his friend left the cell, he called. "Ah, Misato, one more thing, could you ask Asuka to gather my laundry? I think something might have fallen behind my bed."

"Sure. No problem."

She didn't miss the way he tapped the side of his nose, very careful to do it out of the camera's angle and the guard's view.

As Misato left the GeoFront, her mind whirled with questions and doubts.

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3, NERV Hospital; Room 107  
10:27 A.M.**_

Mr. Suzuhara waited. He occupied an uncomfortable chair next to his son. Toji slept still. His chest moved up and down, up and down, with the regularity of a clock.

The doctors didn't know what had gone wrong with him. All the tests they could do showed him in almost perfect health. But he just kept on sleeping.

"C'mon, Toji. I know you like to sleep late, but this is ridiculous!" His father whispered, forcing some good humor in his voice, hoping his son would wake up.

* * *

Meanwhile, away from prying eyes, Toji's spirit wandered through a strange landscape. Big mountains covered the horizon, one of them must have been a volcano, as a white plume of smoke rose from it's very tip. The place was quite beautiful, there were trees and grass. The air was mildly warm, and the sun was high on the sky. If he wasn't lost, he would really like to wander around.

He wandered for a long time. Several hours at the least, and he hadn't come closer to any place.

A glint captured his attention. With nothing better to do, Toji walked towards the place he had seen the glint.

As he got closer, he saw what had reflected the light. It was a sword. Resting in the boney grip of a skeleton.

The owner of said skeleton had apparently died with his back to a tree. The remains of a set of leather armor still clung to the skeleton. It was clear the man had died fighting, there were several arrows protruding from the remains. The bones of several short creatures with big heads were all around him. Toji counted at least eight creatures. Some of them still held rusty knifes in their hands.

Toji admired the sword from a few steps away. Squating down, he spoke to the skeleton. "Uh, sorry, man. It seems they got you in the end." He took his track jacket off, and covered the bones respectfully. As he stood, he heard a voice behind him and turned.

" _Well met, young man."_ Somehow, the man was translucent, and wore the same clothes the skeleton had on, but without the rents and dried blood. _"Thanks for your respect."_ The man pointed at the now covered bones.

"Uh... Hello..?" He scratched his head, thinking, "I am dreaming, right?"

" _You are dreaming, true, but this doesn't make me any less real."_ The ghost tried to kick a skull, but his foot passed through without any effect on the old bones.

Toji scratched his head. "That doesn't make any sense, man."

The ghost sighed.

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3  
Katsuragi/Ikari/Soryu Apartment, 12:37 P.M.**_

Asuka paced around the living room. She was still full of nervous energy. A while before, Misato had called, to let them know Shinji was okay, although still locked in the brig.

Kaji watched her as she walked a trench in the floor. "What's wrong, Asuka?" the agent asked,

"I'm going nuts in here. I'd really like to go to Hikari's. Any problem with that, Kaji?"

"Hmm... Katsuragi asked me to stay here with you while she checked on Shinji. I guess we can wait until she arrives."

Asuka pouted for a moment, but Kaji was used to her tactics, and didn't relent. "Tell you what, call Miss Horaki and see if she can come here. I'm sure Katsuragi won't object to that."

"Great!" she chirped, but actually and for a first time since she had met the scruffy-looking man, she would have prefered to be away. "I'll call her." She needed to talk to somebody. And somebody who knew about magic.

Before the german-raised pilot could reach for the phone, the doorbell rang. "Maybe it's Hikari!" She ran to the door.

As the door slid open, Asuka looked in surprise at Rei Ayanami. "Wonder Girl? What are you doing here?"

"Pilot Soryu." Rei bowed fractionally, "Is Pilot Ikari at home? I find myself in need to speak with him." She carried her school bag and an empty plastic container.

Asuka tilted her head, for some reason, her instincts told her Ayanami's presence was no coincidence.

"He's not here," she answered, "Commander Dumpk... I mean, Commander Ikari had him arrested. He didn't like that Ikari broke ranks and killed the Angel without _his permission_."

"I see. I'll talk with him later, then." She answered, and turned around to leave.

"Stop right there, Wonder Girl." Asuka grabbed Rei's arm. Now that she had the chance to actually study Rei's face, she really saw the resemblance to Shinji's features. Especially in the shape of their eyes and nose. ' _It seems the baka is right, Ayanami_ could _be his sister. I guess it won't hurt to actually talk to her.'_ she thought.

"Look, I don't know when he will be released, but maybe Katsuragi or myself can help. She went to NERV a while ago to speak with him. She is on her way here. You could wait."

Rei studied Asuka for a few seconds. Her usual vitriol was curiously absent, and it seemed she was doing an effort to be civil and helpful. "I accept. I will wait for her." She bowed respectfully. "Thank you."

Asuka ushered her into the living room.

* * *

 _ **Author Notes**_

Shinji has no access to healing magic at the moment, at least not directly. The Justicar does, as part of his Ranger class abilities. Shinji has some Ranger training, but he lacks the levels needed to have access to healing magic (that would be at _Ranger Lvl 8_ , according to the Pathfinder Corebook, 1st Edition). So, he brought quite a few healing potions with him. He always carries one in his backpack and one in his clothes. He had one on him when the Angel Alarm sounded, but it is currently in his locker at NERV. The potion in the backpack is at easy reach for Misato or Asuka.

Should somebody actually analyze the potion, they would find only natural ingredients, like herbs, honey and water; the magic won't show up in any scientific analysis Earth scientist have devised. The only way to test the effects of the potion would be through consumption it.

However, should magic become common on Earth, I am sure somebody would eventually find scientific means to detect and measure it. Or maybe, technomagical means.


	15. Believe It or Not, It is the Truth

**Tokyo-3 Arcana**

* * *

Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it).

* * *

 **Chapter 15**

 **Believe It or Not, It is the Truth**...

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3  
 _ **Katsuragi/Ikari/Soryu Apartment, 01:26 P.M.**_**_

"I´m very sorry, Rei. I find your story a bit hard to believe. A giant spider? At your apartment? Are you sure it wasn´t just a nightmare?"

"I am very sure, Inspector Kaji. I do not dream." Rei´s face was perfectly still. There was no hesitation in her words. Somehow, that simple declaration shook Asuka to the core, even more than realizing Ayanami could actually be related to the Third Child.

Asuka looked at them with a strange expression on her face. "Wait, Kaji. I believe her. I have never known Rei to lie."

Rei blinked twice, and studied Asuka´s eyes, surprised by the unexpected show of support. "I brought the remains of the creature, but they disintegrated in the container." She put the container in the table. The clear plastic showed the interior, there was nothing inside.

"It disappeared?" Asuka took the container, turning it around in her hands, looking for anything that could have remained inside. ´Like gott-dammned mooks on a videogame…´ she thought; the irony of those words didn´t escape her.

"The process looked closer to sublimation than simple evaporation; as the remains of the spider's body passed directly from solid to gaseous before dissipating completely. I nor and venom seemed to evaporate at a very fast rate. There was nothing left. Not even any visible residue. There might be something, but I cannot see it. I kept the container closed for later study, though it was not made for scientific purposes, and it wasn´t sterilized, so the possibility of contamination is present." Rei put her school bag on the table, and took the contents out careful and methodically, like a coroner would extract organs from a corpse, dictating their observations. "There is a slight discoloration on the floor of my apartment, and on my bag. My books were similarly affected, as if they had been exposed to water or some other liquid. I won't risk touching them directly, as the spider´s venom could still be present. I will request replacements." Finally, the took the portable computer out, "The laptop was broken on impact, but apparently did not have any direct contact with the creature´s bodily fluids."

Asuka looked at her strangely. "You have to work on your double entendres, Wonder Girl. That can be misinterpreted."

At that point, the door opened, and a tired but energized Misato entered. "I´m home."

"Welcome home, Misato. How are things at NERV?"

"Weird, Kaji. Very weird. Shinji is still in the brig. I had to cash a couple of favor to speak with him." She turned to Asuka. "He told me to get a little bottle from his school bag, and to ask you about it, Asuka. What´s in it?"

Asuka paled a bit. "He told you about that?"

"He just told me to drink it, and that I would feel better. Now spill, what is in that bottle?" With her good hand, she put Shinji´s school bag on the table, while Rei hurried to put her stuff back in her own school bag. Misato rummaged inside Shinji's bag until she found the bottle. It was made of glass, cut in an interesting pattern. Inside it a clear blue fluid sloshed.

Kaji scoffed. "C´mon, Katsuragi. I seriously doubt Shinji would have anything to do with drugs. It´s probably some herbal concoction or something like that."

Asuka looked briefly at Rei, than at Kaji, and finally at Misato, she exhaled. "It is just a mix of herbs, honey and spring water, but it´s also more than that. From what he told me, there´s nothing harmful nor addictive in it, I assure you." She took the bottle from Misato´s hand, and put it carefully on the table, at clear sight of everybody. "It´s also a token of his trust. If he was willing to give it to you, it means he has a lot to tell you. Kaji, I´m sorry." She looked at him with wet eyes. "I don´t know if Shinji is ready to include you too. Could you please go out with Rei for about fifteen minutes? It´s important." She waved a hand towards the empty container and looked at Rei. "Wonder Girl, I think you are in it too. Just in an unforeseen way. It found you, I'll tell you what I suspect after I've spoken to Misato. It's just that I'm not sure of how much I can divulge now."

Seeing how serious Asuka was, Kaji exchanged a look with Misato, a silent conversation flowed between them in just a couple of seconds. Kaji nodded. "Okay, Rei, how about we go get some food at the store. Anything you´d like?" He turned to Asuka and Misato.

After Misato's negative, Asuka shrugged, "Just a few sodas, please."

As the door closed, Misato turned to Asuka. "Okay, little miss, spill."

Asuka took breath.

* * *

 ** _Tokyo-3, GeoFront  
 ** _NERV HQ, Commander Ikari's Lair, 1:35 P.M._**_**

Gendo Ikari watched the replay of the fight against the 13th Angel. So far, he had studied the available footage 15 times. His face seemed set in stone. Not a single muscle moved to betray his thoughts.

´There is something strange here.´ he thought, but couldn´t put his finger on exactly what it was. Leaving aside the unfortunate surge of electric energy that had fried the Dummy Plug, the fight seemed strange. It wasn´t the usual desperate movements of the Third Child when he was cornered into fighting, nor his deliberate style when he had time to plan his attacks.

The Evangelion had moved with coldness, precision, deliberation. Using his strength and weapon to devastating effect. Those were not the movements of a school boy with little combat training, not the terrifyingly chaotic fury of the Berserker.

No.

These were the movements of a combat veteran.

One who didn´t lose sight of his objectives in combat, as the amazingly efficient rescue of Unit-03´s pilot showed.

Gendo selected the recordings from a different camera, and replayed the fight once more. This time, it was clear that the first two knife strikes were meant to cut most of the exotic matter fibers that held the partially ejected plug into place.

Then, a swift kick to the Evangelion had provided the force needed to rip the remaining tendrils while Unit-01 held on to the semi-exposed plug. Before renewing the attack, Unit-01 put the plug on the ground with both speed and caution.

Once the hostage had been removed from the equation, Unit-01 and its pilot proceeded to demolish Unit-03.

Removing the core showed cunning and ruthlessness. It had been destroyed with such force that the fragments left were absolutely useless for research purposes.

Commander Ikari stopped the images. He lifted his orange tinted sunglasses and rubbed his eyes.

* * *

 ** _Tokyo-3, Horaki Household  
 ** _1:35 P.M._**_**

Reverently, Limiry rolled her scroll, and put it back into its case. Hikari sighed.

"Well… It seems you are too distracted, Hikari," said the gnome cleric. Hikari nodded.

"Sorry, It´s just that I haven't had any news of Toji, not even Asuka knows if he´s okay."

"Tell you what. Let´s take your mind outta the track it is now. Let´s go to the highest place you can see. It is time for you to leave your first mark!"

"My mark?"

"Sure. As a Desna cleric, you have to travel far and wide, see the world, look for out of the way places, and then, leave a mark there, so the next dreamer who comes along know that you were there, and left them a mark to say hi."

Hikari thought about that for a moment. "But… My family…"

Limiry slapped Hikari´s arm. "Take it easy, girl. You are not ready yet to leave the nest. That will be when you are of age. In the meanwhile, you, and me along for the walk, will get to know this wonderful city as no other inhabitant does! Now, have you a personal sigil? It will be a good mark to leave behind."

"Um… well… I could use the kanji for ´light´, I guess…"

"You could, but nah! There must be a more personal symbol." Limiry traced a drawing on the dirt. It looked like a circle crossed by three horizontal lines. "This is mine. The world…" she retraced the circle. "My birthplace…" the center line. "The sea…" the bottom line. "And the sky." She looked at Hikari. "It means that I have traveled the world, even before entering to Desna´s service. I have traveled a lot, seen many countries and known many people. Even if I can´t remember them all too well, I know in my heart I have walked through a lot of boots and spat a lot of dust from many roads."

Hikari nodded. "I see…" She thought deeply for a long time, while Limiry played with some complicated device she brought out from a pocket.

Finally, Hikari´s fingers seemed to move on their own accord. Her hand traced six lines, forming a rough circle.

"Very nice!" Limiry clapped. "Looks fine and recognizable."

"It´s a drawing I made as a child. I wanted to write my name as ´light´", but didn´t know the kanji, so I made this. Just light, without something to project it."

* * *

 ** _Tokyo-3, Convenience Store,  
 ** _Near the Katsuragi/Ikari/Soryu Apartment, 1:37 P.M._**_**

"Well, Rei. I guess we have to waste a few minutes more before returning. Anything else you´d like to get?"

"A couple of packages of precooked vegetable soup would be nice, Inspector Kaji."

"Okay, take your pick."

Once outside, they sat on a bench at the ground floor of the building. Kaji closed his eyes for a second. "Hey, are you absolutely sure you don´t dream, Rei?"

"I have no memory of any oniric activity on my part." Rei looked directly ahead.

"I think I head some guy in college explaining that. Supposedly, his brainwaves during sleep showed he was dreaming, but any dreams he had didn´t pass to the short term memory, so he didn´t even remember having any dreams. I guess it could be the same for you."

"I concede that possibility, but I have some documentary proof of my experience." She took her cell phone out, and a few seconds later, she had the pictures on screen. "I took these pictures about a minute before the spider´s body disappeared completely."

Kaji examined the pictures, comparing them to his, admittedly short, knowledge of spiders. "Wait, you mean it? It´s not a joke?"

"There is nothing to gain by joking with something like this." Under her usual neutral voice tone, Kaji thought he perceived a slight annoyance.

Kaji amplified the image. If this thing was a simple prop, it was a movie quality prop. A very, very expensive prop for a very expensive movie.

"Damn…" he whispered. Rei´s pictures were very good. Clear and detailed, no blurry images. Even the hair like filaments in the bug´s body were clearly defined in the image.

* * *

 **Tokyo-3; Mrs. Hayabusha's Inn;  
 **Backyard; 1:40 P.M.****

"Easy, young manling, go slowly. Move the chisel one fraction of an inch after each tap." Rusilka Burningforge guided Kensuke´s hands. He was working on a piece of hardwood. Rusilka had traced a simple drawing on the surface, carving simple geometric shapes would be a nice starting exercise for Kensuke.

Kensuke had his tongue firmly stuck at the right side of his mouth. He measured his strength, and tapped the little hammer against the chisel´s head. A minute sliver of wood began to raise.

"That´s it, now, change direction for the next tap. Remember, you are not forcing the shapes out. Coax them, a sharp hit with only scare them. They are shy, and very skittish. If you scare them, they will flee, and the wood will be ruined."

"Um… It´s just a board, Miss Rusilka."

The dwarven artisan dope-slapped Kensuke. "A board is something you use to build a boardwalk or a raft. We are not building a boardwalk nor a raft."

Kensuke rubbed the back of his head. "I don´t get it."

"I know," Rusilka sighed. "You have been raised to see only the surface. There is more to your work stuff than that." She passed her fingertips over the smoot surface. "Each board is different, the grain is particular to each piece of wood. This is good wood for carving. There is great potential in it. That´s why I chose it."

Kensuke examined the wood again. This time, paying more attention to the way Rusilka´s drawing matched with the grain of the wood.

Suddenly, he gasped.

"Ah. You see it now?"

"…Yes…" Kensuke whispered reverently.

"Try again. Let the wood itself guide your next tap."

Kensuke put the chisel back on the wood, and tapped delicately at the head. Rusilka smiled in satisfaction. "Better, young manling. Keep at it, don´t force the wood, don´t force your tools. Don´t force the shapes. Let them come to you. They want to come out and see the light."

* * *

 ** _Matsuhiro Secondary NERV Base Ruins.  
 ** _Sublevel 26, 500 meters away from the 13th Angel Crater._**_**

A small red and black spider appeared into a forgotten room. Followed by another, and another. Soon, there were thousands of spiders, covering a human sized mass on the floor. It was as if the shape was materializing under the spiders, or the spiders were turning into something else.

There was nothing of note here. It was an apparently empty room, isolated from the rest of the base by design. It was to serve as a temporary refuge in case of an Angel attacked. Now, the detonation caused by Bardiel had completely closed the room.

One wall consisted of a series of lockers, containing REMs by the hundreds. The Ready to Eat Meals were bland in flavor, but quite nutritious for their size. There was enough food for about 30 persons to last for a month in the refuge.

In the center of the room, the swarm of black and red spiders chittered and seemed to dance over a human-sized form. They were biting again and again.

Slowly, a hand emerged from the swarm. Black fingers closed around a fistful of spiders, and squeezed. The arachnids popped in the hand´s grip. It was a delicate hand, with long, thin fingers and red, sharp nails.

The swarm moved away from the owner of that hand. A thrilled syllable froze the swarm in its place.

"Oh, no, my dears. You won´t go anywhere."

The female scooped a fistful of spiders, and put it ravenously in the waiting mouth. She chewed delicately, wiping the ichor from her full red lips.

She repeated the process several times. Regaining strength with each mouthful. Finally, she stood up in all her dark-skinned glory.

"So, you failed, Mother. You took EVERYTHING from me. My power, my followers, my very divinity, my sacred relics even. You took everything you could! But you couldn´t take my life!"

The young woman jumped up, as if trying to strike at the heavens. Yelling at the top of her lungs, "DO YOU HEAR ME, MOTHER? I AM STILL ALIVE! I AM ALIVE! AND I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!"

Her rant spent, she looked around. Her black eyes didn´t need light to see. "Where in the Demonweb am I?" she hissed.

She walked to the nearest locker. "And who the Abyss is NERV?"

* * *

 ** _Author Notes:_**

 ** _Spoiler Alert!_**

For this story, I am considering the events in the Greyhawk novels as canon. So, there was no _War of the Spider Queen_. Lolth was completely and definitively obliterated from existence by Escalla and Cinders, with some help from Morag.

The last arrival to Tokyo-3 Arcana is no one else but Laveth, Lolth´s daughter. As far as I know, she only had one appearance, the adventure " _The Harrowing_ ", published in _Dungeon Magazine_ (Issue 84, Jan/Feb 2001). If you can find it, it´s a cool story. The cover for the story is beautifully done, with a giant sculpture of Lolth´s face, and Laveth standing proudly in front of it, while a swarm of red spiders comes out os cracks and holes in the statue.

In _The Harrowing_ , Laveth conspired to usurp Lolth´s place as the drow only deity. However, something failed (pesky adventurers), and Lolth wasn´t feeling particularly merciful (not that she was merciful at any point, mind you…).


	16. Making Plans

_**Tokyo-3 Arcana**_

* * *

Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it).

This time, the Author Notes are numbered in the text, if you are fluid in D&D/Pathfinder, you probably wont need most of the notes.

* * *

 _ **Chapter 16**_

 _ **Making plans.**_

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3  
Katsuragi/Ikari/Soryu Apartment, 01:35 P.M.**_

"I agree with Kaji, this is hard to believe. Are you trying to imply that Shinji is a wizard?" Misato scoffed at the idea.

Asuka´s glared back at Misato. "No, he is NOT a _wizard_. He is a _sorcerer_. There is a big difference. Namely that he can cast spells more or less spontaneously. It is me who is a wizardress." She preened for a moment, before dropping the mask and continuing, "I have my own spell book and everything, and I need to choose my spells beforehand."

"Really? Now pull the other, Asuka." Misato leaned back on her chair. For a moment, she tried to cross her arms, until a pang of pain dissuaded her.

"Fine, don´t believe _me_." The red-headed pilot crossed her arms and turned her head away, her nose in the air. "Believe in proof." She took the small bottle, and pushed it towards Misato. "Drink this, and then tell me how you feel."

Misato took the bottle, and eyed it cautiously. "I don´t even know what´s in this!"

"I already told you. Spring water, honey, and herbs. It is perfectly healthy. Would the baka ever give you something that could harm you? Hell, would he knowingly harm _anybody_? He´d rather cut his own arm off rather than hurting anybody he considers a friend. Hell, he would put himself in harm´s way for somebody he didn´t know!" Asuka knew she was stretching the truth a bit. While it was true Shinji wouldn´t harm any friend or unknown people, any hostile would get a rather nasty surprise if they tried to hurt anybody in Shinji´s presence.

Misato hesitated. That was true. In the short time she had known Shinji, she had never, ever, seen him harbor any malice to any living being, even the Angels. He only fought them because there was no way to reason with them. About the only possible exception was Commander Ikari; but even then, Shinji wouldn´t actually wish harm to him. Just keeping his distance would be enough for the Third Child (1).

She took her decision, but just before tried to uncork the bottle with only one hand, Asuka put a make-up mirror on the table. "You have a bruise right on the side of your neck." She tapped the same place on her own neck, "Not too big, but noticeable if you look for it. Watch it." The girl opened the bottle, and held the mirror up. "Can you see it?"

The Chief of Operations nodded, sniffed at the bottle, and not finding any strange odor, she took a cautious swig of the liquid. It was cool and soothing. Just as soon it passed her throat, a warm feeling spread all over her body. The collection of pains, aches, and various discomforts dulled immediately. She decided to risk it, and drank the whole bottle as fast as if it was her breakfast beer. "Oooookay," she sighed, wiping her lips, "I do feel better. Some kind of fast-acting anaesthetic, or something, I guess. Even my headache is fading fast. (2)"

Smugly, Asuka pointed at Misato´s neck. "Look at the bruise."

A quick peek at the mirror soon left Misato with her jaw hanging. Right before her eyes, the bruise discolored, shrank, and almost disappeared. "Wha…? How? That´s several days of healing at the least!"

A smug smile spread on Asuka´s lips. "Magic. I told you. This…" she waved the bottle in front of Misato´s face, a single blue drop rolled at the bottom of the crystalline bottle, "is a healing potion. Shinji says it is a _Cure Light Wounds_ one. There are stronger potions, for _Moderate_ and even _Grave Wounds_ ; but he has precious few of those. I guess he thought you needed it, but couldn´t cure you completely in one go. It would be very suspicious."

Her room-mate wriggled her fingers carefully, expecting a shot of pain. There was some pain, yes, but not the sudden lance of hurt she had already gotten when she had accidentally hit her elbow on a piece of furniture.

"Gods above… I feel so much better..." She gasped. "What about you? Can you really do magic?"

Asuka shrugged, "Just a bit. Shinji had just started to teach me when that gott-damned EVA-Snatching Engel decided to pay us a visit. It had the gall to interrupt _my magic lessons_!" She kept silent about the exact circumstances. She was still a smidge angry about the clockwork cat/magic teacher bit.

"What can you do? Show me!"

"Just a bit of light. Nothing Earth-shattering yet. It's not even a real spell, just a cantrip. It's the only magic I can do at the moment. I´m not even first level, for goodness sake! Shinji is way more advanced." Asuka fumbled in her pockets for a dead firefly, and proceeded to turn Misato´s lighter into a small star. "I hope I can get something else to work instead of fireflies, carrying dead bugs around is not my style."

Misato´s head was almost spinning as she examined the luminous lighter. "Magic is real… What could we do with this?"

"Stop right there, Misato. Think. If the Commander gets word of this," she stabbed a finger on the table´s surface, "he will not hesitate to turn us into lab specimens for Dr. Akagi to play with. Shinji is deathly scared of that, with very good reason." Asuka paused, gathering her thoughts, "There is another problem."

Misato´s eyes shot back at Asuka. "What?"

"Creatures and persons are appearing here. Some are monsters, others are just people. Shinji and I have met a couple of the good ones, but…" she picked up the empty container Rei had left on the table. "…there are monsters too. A gang of small buggers almost attacked Hikari the other day. And now, a giant spider on Wonder Girl´s apartment? Somewhere in or around Tokyo-3 there is a door to that other place, and creatures and people are coming through it. (3)"

"Okay, let´s say I believe that, Asuka. What does Shinji know?"

"I´m not sure exactly what does he know. He keeps his cards close to the vest, and has only told me and a few others what he thinks is happening, he was waiting for the right moment to talk to you, I suppose. I won´t say much more about this until I have had the chance to clear things with him. But I think that until we get that chance, Wonder Girl shouldn´t go back to her place. Who knows how many spiders like the one she squashed flat could be around? Keep her here, I can share my room if it helps."

Misato nodded, running scenarios in her head. "I still will need to check this out. I know Rei lives in an apartments building, so maybe we have to evacuate it too." A sudden thought crossed her mind. "Heeeey… Since when do you trust Shinji´s judgement? And since when do you care that much about Rei?"

Asuka stood up, leaning on her knuckles over the table, a slight flush on her cheeks. "Since he came back from that stupid transdimensional Engel. Shinji and I had a long talk; a very civil talk, mind you. He showed me magic, and I want to learn more. Light shows are not going to be any use against Engels. When I came here to Tokyo-3, I thought Rei was a rival to defeat, just as I though Shinji was. Now I realize that was never the case. I can change my mind, you know."

Misato sat back on her chair. "He has changed too. He´s not as meek as before."

Asuka closed her eyes for a second. "Nope. Though he tries to not to be too assertive in public. He´s Clark Kenting, for gott´s sake!" She opened her eyes back again, and changed subject. "Speaking of own own mild-mannered pilot, did you get the recordings of the fight? I heard he mopped the floor with Unit-03 and I´d like to see it."

Misato rummaged in her purse, finally getting a data-stick out. "So do I! Kaji and Rei should watch it too."

The doorbell rang then.

"Speaking of the devil…"

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3, GeoFront  
NERV HQ; Commander Ikari´s Lair, 01:52 P.M.**_

"What do you think, Professor?" Gendo Ikari leaned back in his chair, while Vice-Commander Fujutsuki watched the recording.

"I think young Ikari has jumped up in combat effectiveness." He paused, straightened up, and continued. "This way of fighting actually reminds me of another."

The Commander tented his fingers in front of his face. "Indeed. This confirms that Yui´s consciousness is still in the Evangelion core; not merely as the soul interfacing pilot and EVA, or as an instinctive response in case of overwhelming danger.."

"Hmph. This also tells me something more." Fujutsuki clasped his hands at his back. "She is angry. And some of that anger might be affecting the Third Child. If he fights that way outside the EVA, he would be a fighter to be reckoned with. And I don´t want to be near him should he be provoked enough to fight."

"Indeed. The scars on his body seem to indicate a close combat specialist. Though he is hardly a long-term strategist. He lacks experience. The combat instincts he had shown must be due to Yui´s influence. His last synch rates were quite high. The Second Child has shown no changes, and Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu was hardly a fighter."

"Still, don´t underestimate her. The girl is an accomplished fighter. The only reason her record in combat is lower than Shinji´s is Yui´s own viciousness in a fight. She played the meek nerd part, and had no real taste for fighting, unlike some." The exact some he was referring was left unsaid. "But when she had to fight, she was nastily efficient. As a few crippled thugs can attest. (4)"

"…Yes."

"Now, what are you planning to do? Shinji has been confined in the brig for a while."

"And he will stay there for a while more. Until I know for certain what he´s capable of." He smiled under his gloved hands. "I think it´s time to test him."

Fujutsuki glared at his once-pupil. But kept his own counsel. Yui´s kid would better be on his toes.

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3  
Katsuragi/Ikari/Soryu Apartment, 02:03 P.M.**_

"..." No one present did speak a word. The images were amazingly vivid.

Misato was the first to recover. "I´m seriously thinking of never, ever teasing Shinji again or asking him to clean the apartment."

Asuka gulped, she had first-hand experience with how fast and devious could Shinji be in a friendly game, but seeing him rescue the Fourth Child, and then fight and kill the Thirteenth Angel like he did... Well... that put to rest her own ideas about who was the best fighter at NERV. It was a hard blow to her pride, but one she could take now that she had magic. The higher-ups could take her EVA from her, but they could never take her magic away.

Rei sipped her tea, "Efficient." That was her only comment.

Kaji simply leaned back on his chair, and wiped a slight sheen of sweat from his brow. "Aoba was amazed about that. Now I know how he felt. Are you sure this was Shinji?"

Asuka looked at her hands. Closing them to fists, she hissed, "I have to learn to fight that that, you know." She shook her head as an idea came to her. "Wait. Misato, rewind the fight. Can you track EVA-01´s hands? I though I saw something."

Misato nodded, and restarted the video, she used a function of the software to track the bio-mech hands. Once the video played, they had a close-up of each hand in a lateral window on the laptop screen.

Asuka looked at the screen with hawk-like intensity. When the moment came close, she ordered, "Slow-motion."

Misato did as asked. Eva-01 grabbed the Angel, and for a few frames, a light came from its hands. "What was that light?" she whispered.

Asuka didn´t answer her question, "I knew it. Go back a few frames and mark this one, where the hands glow." Once that was done, she asked "Fast forward. Pause." Another light in EVA-01´s hands. "Okay, restart, and pay attention to how EVA-03 moves after the light."

The four watched the image. Kaji was the first to talk. "It looks stunned! It moves like a boxer about to fall!"

Asuka smiled smugly and pumped her fist in the air once. "Ha! I bet Shinji did cast a spell at the Engel! He told me he thought he could cast magic through EVA-01. Even if it didn´t go down, it was quite groggy!"

Speechless, Misato closed the laptop. "That might be the reason Toji hasn't woken up..."

"What? No one told me that. Suzuhara is an idiot, but he doesn't deserve to stay unconscious."

"I have to talk with Shinji again, he must know how to wake him up."

"Yeah. He must know how to cancel the spell. _Light_ is easy to end, I just need to say _Nox_ and it ends." The lighter went dark again. Kaji gasped, but Rei simply watched it without comment.

"I wish I knew how to contact my magic teacher." Asuka sighed. "He might know how to cancel the spell. It´s not Shinji, it´s... another."

Misato shook her head, "Wait, Shinji said something weird, did you two bet laundry duty?"

"Yeah, but he said I wouldn't have to do it."

"He told me to remind you of that, and that you should check behind his bed, that something could have fallen there."

Asuka stiffened for a moment. "Sneaky bastard. A secret message!" A smile appeared on her face, "Misato, I need your data stick, quick. I need to replay the fight." A few seconds later, the stick had been ejected and given to Asuka.

After a quick stop in her own room,the German raised pilot had her own laptop in her hands, and opened the door to Shinji's small room. "I'll be back in at least five minutes, no one is to enter, is that clear? If I delay more than that, don't enter until the fifteen minutes mark."

They all nodded, before leaving, Asuka turned to Rei. "Okay, Wonder Girl. I´m taking a big risk with you, mostly on Shinji´s behalf. Should anybody else know about Shinji and magic, we will end up as lab specimens somewhere."

Rei furrowed her brow. Her loyalty to the Commander had been steadily eroded for several months. Shinji had treated her with the dignity and care she had been denied all her life. Not even her conditioned obedience to the Commander could stop her from taking her own decisions now. She kept silent for a moment, considering her own feelings about the unending series of tests and procedures she had been subjected to all her life. "I shall keep your secrets."

Both Misato and Asuka sighed in relief. "Good, I'll come back soon. Five minutes, fifteen tops. Don't even think of going there, clear?" She disappeared into Shinji's Lovely Suite.

Misato looked at Rei. "Now, we cannot allow you to go back to your apartment, Rei." She said, taking Rei´s hand in hers. "Not until and unless we know its safe. I insist you stay here, at least for a few days. I will manage to get an evacuation order for the whole building with some pretext or another."

"Unnecessary. I'm the only tenant. The whole building is empty."

The other two gasped a simultaneous "What?"

"Commander Ikari's orders. He said it was for my protection."

"Rei. Exactly where do you live?" Misato asked, a small tic was making itself known on her lower left eyelid.

She told them their address, Misato's tic was accompanied by a pulsing vein in her right temple. "Protection my ass! That section of town is a demolition zone! No wonder Shinji was so rattled off after he delivered you your new ID card!"

"Was that the reason he bolted off?" Rei asked innocently.

"Probably, but why didn't he tell me about it?" Misato tapped her index finger against her chin, thinking.

Kaji intejected. "Well, he probably didn't want to cause Rei any problem or something. We will have to ask him. But we are getting off-track here." He coughed into his fist. "Asuka said there were some others. They already know about this stuff. I say we contact them and ask for help. Or at least for advice. Unofficially and on the side."

Misato leaned back. "Do we have any other option?"

Kaji passed his hand over his hair, "I don't know. Waiting could be dangerous, if there are more spiders, they could overrun the whole city."

* * *

 _ **Matsuhiro Secondary NERV Base Ruins.  
Sublevel 26, 500 meters away from the 13th Angel Crater.**_

Laveth opened one locker after another. One contained rough clothes with a strange style. There was a belt, but no money bags, at least, not separate bags, the weird tunic had several hidden bags, sewn into the cloth. "Hmm… stinks like human, but this is too good for a slave." She decided to put the strange clothes on, it wouldn´t do to go around naked, displaying her otherworldly perfection for all to see. She found several sets of clothes, including strange shoes made of a fabric she wasn´t familiar with, especially the soles. It didn´t felt like any kind of leather she knew. And instead of laces, they were fastened to the feet with curious strips of cloth, which made a ripping sound when separated from the shoe. Still, they were quite comfortable, and Laveth decided to keep them until she found better to replace them with.

Her exploration of NERV´s hideout continued. And she found many boxes made of thick paper. Most showed food. Human food, judging from the writing and pictures on the boxes. Disgusting human food.

But hunger was gnawing at her again, the spiders she had eaten were just enough to sustain her for a little while.

Laveth ripped open a box, it contained several metalic pouches, the metal itself was very strange, it felt thin as paper, and it wasn´t particularly cold to the touch.

Each pouch was clearly labeled with strange letters. But she was able to read them easily. Though the meaning of some words sometimes escaped her. In smaller text, instructions were provided.

"No fresh flesh to rip to shreds, pathetic." She examined all the pouches one after another. The closest to real food she could find was chicken... nuggets? Miners? Were the humans mixing their blood with useless dwarves?

She decided to follow the instructions printed in the pouch, at the bottom, she could felt a hard bar, in a diferent compartment. According to the instructions, she shouldn´t take it out, but add a small measure of water to the bigger compartment, break the bar, close the pouch, and wait five minutes, or count to 300 if lacking a wrist watch. Mistrustful, she checked her wrists, finding nothins unusual.

Laveth followed the instructions, and a 300 count later, she opened the pouch again, and a deliciously spiced smell assaulted her senses. She took a small piece of flesh flom the pounch, it was soft and easy to chew, not remotely as hard as a nugget should be.

She quickly ate the whole content of the pouch, and went on to examine and eat all the food contained in the box. Some were disguntingly sweet, like the pink bar of chewing gum, supposedly flavored artificially with strawberries. She chewed it for a long time, but the damned thing never was ready to swallow, so she spit it out when the flavor was gone. "Only humans could be so fool to make food like this."

Once her hunger was sated for a while, Laveth turned her attention to exploring her new domain, she would rip it from NERV´s cold and rigid hands if neccessary; but first, she would find this wizard and torture his secrets from him. For it must be a him, no wizardress nor priestess would be foolish enough as to make this kind of absurd place.

* * *

 _ **Author Notes:**_

(1) Obviously, Misato is a bit off the loop concerning Shinji´s attitude towards Commander Ikari... Asuka doesn´t know either.

(2) In D&D, healing potions work more or less instantly, in the first Justicar and Escalla novel (White Plume Mountain), the potions work over several minutes. And human potions are even slower for a faerie, as Escalla can attest. The Justicar´s healing spells work faster, but he tends to reserve those for last, as he prefers to use disposable resources first. Must as in survival school, you are instructed to use your disinfecting pills for water as a last resource, only if you can´t make fire and boil it.

(3) There is not a single door, as Asuka thinks. The Shadow manifests in random places and times, depositing random creatures.

(4) Yeah, I´m taking the fanon idea that Yui was actually a good fighter. After all, the savagery EVA-01 displayed had to come from somewhere, the EVA alone would be a savage fighter, but not an strategic one. Just compare how the two berserk EVAs behaved. Unit-00 was just a wounded animal, while EVA-01 was sadistically deliberate (as Sachiel´s and Zeruel´s arms can attest.)


	17. What the Hell Was That?

_**Tokyo-3 Arcana**_

* * *

Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it).

Again, the Author Notes are numbered in the text, if you are fluid in D&D/Pathfinder lore, you probably wont need most of the notes.

* * *

 _ **Chapter 17**_

 _ **What the Hell Was That?**_

* * *

 _ **Matsuhiro Secondary NERV Base Ruins.**_

 _ **Sublevel 26, 500 meters away from the 13th Angel Crater.**_

Laveth had spent the time in the bunker occupying herself with testing her own capabilities. She still had some command of spiders, otherwise she would have had to hunt for her first meal. She tested her Arachnemancer (1) abilities. Those were the only thing she had left from her former life. And at a damnable low level, Lolth be damned!

Still, it would be enough to manipulate the spiders she had left. Laveth sat regally on a strange chair, the contraption had small wheels at the end of a strange set of legs. It almost looked like a terrible representation of a spiderweb, if one only left the central spokes and forgot to add the sticky spiral.

The thrice damned thing had slid away from her when she first attempted to sit on it. But she had found the way to sit on it on her second try. Had she been a child, she would probably tried to see how far the chair would go in one push. But she was a dignified drow princess, even if she was not a demi-goddess anymore, so she refrained, even though she was alone.

Delicately, Laveth bit a cookie taken from a rations pouch, and began to project her awareness into the dozens of spiders around her, looking for a way out the cubical room. Of course, she would take as much as she could from that stupid wizard, NERV. Starting with his strange throne. It certainly was lacking in style, but the damned thing was actually comfortable.

Soon, the spiders had found a metallic door, mostly made of strange interlocking mechanisms. The thing seemed designed to either keep something very bad out, or to keep something very bad in. Laveth thouth the first option was the right one, otherwise, NERV wouldn´t have made the effort to equip and feed his minions. So, the door was made to protect NERV´s sanctuary. NERV surely had powerful enemies.

The spiders wriggled into the mechanism, informing Laveth of their findings. The exiled former demi-goddess visualized each part of the door into her mind. It was an exhausting task, and soon, Laveth nursed the mother of all headaches. She felt almost tempted to compare it with suffering the hangover of being drunk with Faerie Wine, vintage ´63. (2)

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3**_

 _ **Katsuragi/Ikari/Soryu Apartament,**_

 _ **Shinji's Lovely Suite (inside the Portable Hole), 2:20 P.M.**_

"Well, it seems Shinji wasn´t the only one to come through, Tom. We have met one gnome and a dwarf, Hikari and the gnome had a run in with a gang of goblins, and now we have a possible arachnid attack to worry about."

The Tom of Arcane Knowledge sat on the lectern, with a pensive expression in his big round emerald eyes, he pushed the manga book on it until it fell from the edge. He watched the book as it fell, and then folded his paws under his body. If it wasn´t for his metallic body made of precious metals, and his gem eyes, Tom would have looked like any other house cat. "What kind of spider? Some are merely harmless vermin, others are dangerous only in swarms, and yet others are deadly by themselves." He sounded as if he had shrugged.

"What do I look like, an spiderologuist? I don´t know anything about spiders, even less about giant spiders! A week ago I didn´t even knew gnomes and dwarves were real! Mostly because they weren't!" Asuka paced around, her need to move contrasting sharply with Tom´s placid attitude.

"You certainly lack that kind of temperament. And skin pigmentation. And pointy ears. And spiderweb fetish. All of which I am very glad of. And I bet Shinji would be very relieved of too. Drow are bad news, girl. Even one is bad. And females are even worse."

"Drow? What are those? Some kind of intelligent bug?"

"Elves." Tom actually shuddered. "Sadistic, perverted, treacherous, poisonous, full-of-themselves, haughty, egotistic elves with a spider fetish. The adventuring party that adopted Shinji as their own had a couple of nasty run ins with them and their goddess (3). It was before my time, and even Shinji´s. They are all very capable fighters, each on their own way, and they dread facing the drow. At least, without an overwhelming advantage. They are all good people, and they go out of their way to kill as many drow as possible."

Asuka looks askew at Tom. "Okay, I get it. We are gonna need reinforcements. How about a gnome cleric and a dwarf gal with a big axe?"

"Hmm… Might be enough. What does Shinji say?"

"I don´t know," she bit her lower lip, then shook her head. "He´s been in a cell since he opened a big can of ´Yurskrood´ on the last Angel. That was just after I met you."

"Hmm… I see. That explains why he hasn´t brought the next volume…" Tom looked at the manga book on the floor. "Aaaanyway. I think you better talk with those friends of yours and explain things."

Asuka stopped her pacing. "Look. I know Shinji wants to keep the secret of you and his magic. But at this point, Misato, the First Child and Kaji are already aware of some things. Hell in a handbasket." Asuka began to count with her fingers. "Rei squashed flat a giant spider already, Hikari lives with a gnome cleric, Aida brought a dwarf artisan home, Misato has used a healing potion, and Kaji was here when Rei told us about the gott-damned spider!"

Tom turned his head around and sighed. "Worst secret keepers, you humans are. Okay. I guess I couldn't do more harm if I wanted to. Open that chest. If you are going to do what I think you are itching to do, you better be _rightly_ equipped for it."

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3**_

 _ **Katsuragi/Ikari/Soryu Apartament**_

 _ **Same Time**_

"Oh, boy… that was an ugly thing, that´s for sure." Misato shuddered as she returned Rei´s cell to the bluenette. Kaji wiped his forehead with a hand.

"Yeah… I don´t know if I would have the stones to do as Rei did. I would probably have thought I was either dreaming or hallucinating."

The First Child simply nodded at the compliment, a second later, she asked. "Could you loan me a laptop? I´d like to check internet for any similar spiders."

"Sure." Misato pushed her own laptop towards Rei. "I don´t believe you´ll find anything that big and ugly, but who knows." Reflexively, she touched the bruise at the side of her neck, amazed at how quick the potion had hastened her recovery.

Expertly, Rei began a search, using some auxiliary software to narrow the search by description of the spider. Aside the pictures, she had an excellent memory. Otherwise, her notes at school would be abysmal, instead of merely adequate, due to her many absences.

A few minutes later, she had discarded dozens of pictures, that on the surface resembled the giant spider, but weren't close enough for Rei´s taste. Deliberately, she hadn´t put any size parameters in her search. A spider that size simply couldn´t exist on Earth. At least not without an internal skeleton and serious evolutionary changes to both its respiratory and circulatory systems (3). Her cursory examination of the dead creature hadn´t yielded anything that could neither prove nor disprove the possibility of such changes.

While Kaji and Misato discussed the possibility of charging into action, guns blazing, Asuka returned, her arms loaded with archaic looking weapons, and a toy cat sitting smugly on her left shoulder.

"Okay, people, look alive, this is the Tom of Arcane Knowledge, my magic teacher and a complete pain in the shoulder."

"Oh, sorry, girl." Tom disentangled his claws from Asuka´s blouse. The redhead put her bounty on the table. Tom jumped down to it, under the curious eyes of the other three.

"Yeah, I´m a magical talking toy cat. Get over it, people. Shinji has told me about you, Misato, Kaji." Tom looked at each of then in turn, paused, and continued after a curious look at Rei. "You must be Ayanami." He turned back to face the adults in the room, "He respects you a lot. But unless you close your mouths right now, I´m going to lose any shred of second-hand respect I have for you." Misato did as told, and after feeling her elbow hit his ribs, Kaji followed suit. "That´s so much better. Now, my apprentice here tells me you have a spider problem. Describe the bug, maybe I know about it."

"Uh… Tom… right?" Kaji was the first adult to recover the power of speech. "We have pictures of it. Rei snapped a couple before the bug evaporated." At a nod, Rei showed the pictures to the mechanical cat. She hadn't even blinked.

"Hmm... interesting stuff you guys have. Very convenient." Tom sat on his haunches, while he examined the first picture. "No. I do not recognize this kind of spider. Maybe your otherworldly friends could, girl." He tapped the screen with a silver claw. "But judging from the size of those fangs, it must be a hunter. You are gonna need more edges to locate its lair. Probably, there are more spiders."

Tom walked cheekily over the table. Stepping carefully aside the stuff Asuka had brought. "Okay, people, We are going to need a few more hands to squash these bugs. A bug hunt is relatively low risk, at least when it is starting. I doubt the spiders have had time to reproduce. Much. So, our best bet is to locate the lair and kill the juveniles and/or cocoons there. Preferably with fire. The dwarf and the gnome could be good guides, as they have low-light vision. Get them here, and we can begin to plan the expedition."

Asuka nodded, and sent a message to Hikari, and called Mrs. Hayabusha Inn; luckily, it was Rusilka who answered the phone. The dwarf agreed to come to Misato's. It would take her a few minutes to arrive.

Tom kept walking on the table, "Asuka here brought, on my advice, some weapons for the party. These are magical weapons, I think Shinji won't object much if I loan them to you. For just one dungeon crawl, understood? Afterwards, you'll return them. Is that perfectly understood, hmm?" He extended his neck to emphasize his point.

"My apprentice gets two wands and the magical dagger, plus five vials of poison antidote, You get a magical sword each, supposing you can wield one without decapitating yourselves, plus one vial of antidote and a healing potion each. Bluey, I have no idea of your combat capabilities, do you favor melee or ranged combat?"

"Ranged. I have sniper training."

"Good, I think you guys might be too melee oriented, adding the dwarf, who I think might be a fighter. Okay, Bluey, you get the bow and the arrows. The bow is magical too. Just point, pull and release. Also, you are in charge of the healing potions reserve. Five in all. Try not to use them all in one go. Shinji brought a limited amount. We can replenish them, but slowly, unless we get a cleric to prepare more."

Asuka was the first to unsheathe the weapon assigned. The blade glistened in the light like the surface of a lake under the sun. "This… this is beautiful…" she gasped.

"Well, you are a connoisseur, dear girl." An oily voice rang in the room. Startled by the voice, Asuka dropped the dagger. "Ow! Careful, girl. I don´t mind getting nicked in the heat of battle, but by accident? No, that just won´t do. I am too beautiful to be scarred by accident."

Misato put her own sword on the table. "Okay, what was that? Explain."

Tom looked somewhat sheepish. "Hmm… Me bad. I should have warned you. Some of the magical weapons in Oerth are actually intelligent and self-conscious."

"I have never been self-conscious in my entire life, cat. I am glorious! Radiant! Magnificent."

"Show-off too. People, this is…"

"I can do the introduction myself, thank you very much! Ahem…" Somehow, everybody had the impression the dagger was looking around, despite a remarkable lack of eyes. "I am… The one and original… Weapon of heroes… Risus Vester Misericors, slayer of villains and killer of monsters! Call me Vester, please."

"You forgot Peeler of Apples." Tom was busy examining his claws.

"That was only once, and I wasn´t quite awake then, cat." The dagger huffed. "Now I am very awake and I found somebody worthy of wielding me in battle!"

A flash of light crossed between Vester and Asuka. The girl yelped, reverting to her mother tongue, "Was zur Hölle war das?"

"We are bonded now, kid. You are now the lucky wielder of the best magical dagger in Oerth!" Vester sounded terribly smug.

Tom hissed, "You had no right to do that, Peeler! She doesn't know what that means!"

Misato intervened, "Enough, you two, we have better things to do than watching a talking cat and a talking dagger argue with each other." She stopped to pinch the bridge of her nose. "I cant believe I just said that..." Before Kaji could add anything, she elbowed him in the ribs again. "Shut up, just shut up. Tom, in twenty five words or less, explain what just happened."

"Vester and Asuka are now in a mutual dependency situation. Basically, they can't be apart for more than a few hours each day."

"Kami above, that is gonna cause problems..."

"Nah," Vester almost laughed, "I can stay in a transdimensional space near her, and appear when she needs me. But I have to be out and on her person at least two hours daily."

Asuka recovered from the surprise, "What? Do I have to wield you every sprocking day? I guess I have to kill some monster every day too, right?"

"I'd like that, but no. You only have to have me in a sheath or something, as long as I am occupying the place of a hand weapon for those two hours, we are both good. Can be a belt, a boot, at your back, as long as I am at your reach and on your person, we're good."

"We?" Asuka arched an eyebrow, "what is this _we_ you're talking about."

"We." Repeated Vester. "If we are forcibly separated, I will begin to feel drowsy, until I fall asleep again. You get weaker. Nothing too bad, I've been told. You'd recover eventually, with some exercise and personal growth." (5)

"How come you were awake?" Misato asked.

"Shinji had a partial bond with me, just enough for me to be half-awake, mind you. He couldn't bond with me, not completely. His spirit isn't compatible with mine. He only wielded me to my minimum capabilities. Now, Asuka here, she is as perfect for me as I am for her. Together we will grow and access to more and better powers! I can barely wait to see what they are!"

Asuka grinned.

Meanwhile, Rei had placed the bow on the table, looking at it with a lot of suspicion.

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3, GeoFront**_

 _ **NERV HQ; Commander Ikari´s Lair,**_ _ **2:35 P.M.**_

"Any question?" Commander Ikari tented his fingers in front of him, hiding his face. His orange tinted glasses hid his eyes, so his facial expression was mostly unreadable. He had cultivated the habit of staying still for as long as possible, to hide his thoughts and reactions. It was the main reason most people found him creepy. That and his callous disregard for everybody else.

"No, Sir." The jailor shook his head.

"No lasting damage, just a... friendly warning will be enough."

"Got it, Sir." The man was quite the anomaly in NERV, he was big, burly, and brutish looking. Frankly, guarding the brig was the only place he wouldn't look out of place. His face was round and rough, his eyes small, his jaw big and hard. He only missed a whip and a black hood to look the part of a medieval jailor.

Behind the Commander's desk, Sub-Commander Kozo Fujutsuki wracked his brain, trying to find a way to stop the Commander's plan. He came up with nothing. The best he could do in case things went wrong was to prepare the sick bay for the younger Ikari.

* * *

 _ **Author Notes:**_

(1) The Aracnemancer prestige class was detailed in Dungeon 84, the same issue that introduced Laveth.

(2) Faerie Wine, Vintage ´63 is an incredibly potent wine. It gets the drinker completely wasted in less than it takes to say it, and the hangover comes almost immediately after (or even, during) its consumption. In the hands of Escalla, it can be a terrible weapon, capable of laying waste to a whole city, and decimating its population! (just check _Descent into the Depths of the Earth_. I swear you will enjoy the tale.)

(3) The drow and their goddess Lolth were the main antagonists in the second and third novels with the Justicar and Escalla. _Nasty run-ins_ barely starts to cover the description of their clashes.

(4) Completely true. The Law of Inverse Square stops any creature to grow beyond a certain size. Basically, doubling the length of something increases the surface by four, and the volume by eight. Bones or exoskeletons have a limit of how much weight they can support before collapsing. Plus, Arthropoda have a very simple respiratory system. Usually, a series of tubes distribute air inside the body. Some spiders have primitive lungs, shaped like a series of folds, kinda like a book, and in fact, that's their name "book lungs". But over a certain size, the surface of the folds isn't enough for the oxygen the creature would need. Therefore, and despite how much I like the movies, Mothra simply cannot exist.

(5)Meaning that Vester reverts to being an inert weapon, and Asuka loses 1d3 STR, until she goes up a level for each point of STR lost. Worst scenario, she has to go up three levels (in any class, should she multi class) to recover completely.


	18. Does it Count as a Dungeon Crawl?

_**Tokyo-3 Arcana**_

* * *

 _ **Please Read and Review.**_ I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it).  
The Author Notes are numbered in the text, if you are fluent in D&D/Pathfinder Lore, you probably won't need most of the notes.

* * *

 _ **Chapter 18**_

 _ **Does it Count as a Dungeon Crawl if it´s Just an Old Building?**_

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3  
GeoFront, Evangelion Cages**_

"Everything is ready, Dr. Akagi. The main maintenance check up is done. We can do the rest in Unit-01´s cage." Lt. Maya Ibuji´s fingers danced on the keyboard, inputing an incredible amount of instructions in a very short time. Only Dr. Akagi was faster, but the gap closed every week. If she continued to improve, by the end of the year, they would be around the same speed.

Dr. Akagi marked down an item on her clipboard, and took a drag from her cigarette. "Good work, Maya. Put it next to Unit-02. While transport secures it, begin the check-up for Unit-00."

"At once, Dr. Akagi."

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3  
GeoFront, Evangelion Cages  
**_ _ **Same time**_

 _´At last! You took your own sweet time to get me back.´_ Yui Ikari thought, deep in Unit-01´s core.

She reflected on the strange turns her fate had taken, since that fateful day the Twelfth Angel arrived, sending Unit-01 and Shinji to a very different world. One that seemed out of a fantasy novel, with wizards, monsters, and magic.

Their enforced stay on Oerth had lasted five years, while only a few hours passed on Earth. She had spent most of that time in a pocket dimension, surrounded by beings that could only be called devils, or demons. She was not really sure about the nuances of their sides. Only that devils and demons were locked in an eternal war, fighting constantly for supremacy.(1)

While she could only listen and think, the conversations around her broke her world view.

Once, she had thought Mankind was limited to a single world, trapped in an evolutionary dead end.

She couldn´t have been more wrong.

Mankind lived in a myriad of worlds. (2)

A veritable multiverse.

Yui had realized how wrong their Scenario was. Even if she managed to remain in the EVA unit for all eternity as a monument to Mankind´s existence, the gesture would be ultimately a futile one.

As long as humans inhabited the multiverse, there would be hope for them.

Third Impact was unnecessary.

And to stop it, she would need the help of, not only Shinji and his fellow pilots but also her old friend Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu.

She extended her awareness towards the red Evangelion, looking for her friend.

To her horror, she found her.

What was left of her.

Or rather, them.

A broken soul, two fragments in conflict over Asuka.

Yui screamed.

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3  
Previous Location of Rei Ayanami´s Apartment  
Ground Floor  
**_ _ **Some Minutes Before**_

"Okay, everybody," Misato said, "before we leave the building, I want a weapon check." She and Kaji checked their guns were loaded and ready, making sure the safety was on each gun, they also made sure to have several spare clips; in case they had to make their way out shooting. Everybody else loosened their respective edged weapons, while Rei checked the quiver at her back was at the right angle to allow her easy access to the magical arrows, and Asuka made certain her wands were safely stored in specially made holsters fastened to her forearms, and their activation words were fresh in her memory. Rusilka checked the balance of her big axe.

Right outside the dilapidated vestibule of the building, Limiry guided Hikari on a prayer to Desna, their patron goddess. "Maker of the stars, keeper of dreamers and travelers. Your daughters ask you for your protection and guidance in this humble enterprise. May our travel be safe and fruitful under your gaze." They stood up, and judging from their faces, they were ready.

Normally, Asuka would have found funny to see a bright yellow skinned diminutive woman leading such a prayer, but since she was shown that magic was real, her usual haughtiness had been very low.

She pulled a few cheap charms she had won at an arcade machine some time ago, and gave one each to her companions. "Here you go, I put a _Light_ spell on these, they will last a while before going dark. Shinji told me the people who taught him used to have something similar (3). It will save the batteries for when we really need them."

Everybody took the charms, and put the cords around their necks. The light was almost as bright as a small flashlight. Next, they put the headbands on, each one with LED lights array, ready to be turned on in a moment. Small but powerful flashights were distributed by Kaji.

A strangely equipped group was ready to emerge from the ground floor. Misato had assumed command of the party by silent agreement. She and Kaji had worked together many times before NERV, Misato was best at improvising, and both knew how to read the other. "Okay, weapons at rest. First we have to pinpoint the most probable place for these bugs to be hiding in. Rusilka, Limiry? Any suggestions?"

Rusilka knelt next to the door, and held her left hand up, asking for silence. Her eyes scanned quickly the surrounding buildings. Many of them had broken windows. She paid particular attention to those windows.

"There." She pointed, at a building crossing the street. It was almost lined up with Rei´s apartment. "Third floor, fifth window to the left. Can you see a white bundle? Spider web. Judging from the size, it could be a small cat or a pidgeon."

Misato used her binoculars, looked at the place Rusilka indicated, and nodded. She passed the device to Kaji, who took the chance to look around. "That´s the only web I can see. The windows in the same floor and above and below are clear."

Rusilka nodded. "That seems to be an useful trinket. May I?" she extended her hand towards Kaji, who put the binoculars on her palm, saying, "There´s a small wheel in the middle, close to where your index fingers rest. Turn it to focus the image."

"Ah, I see. I´m used to adjusting a pocket telescope by sliding the components, this is quite ingenious." She tried the mechanism before putting the device to use. "Remarkable quality. Hardly any distortion."

"Military grade issue, Rusilka. Maybe not the best quality, but they are very resistant to damage."

"I´d like a set. They are a bit simple, aesthetically speaking." She examined every visible opening on the building. A minute later, she returned the binoculars. "There are a couple of webs visible, the size and shape of the prey cocoons matches with pidgeons. We must proceed with caution. I reckon there could be between three to seven spiders of the size you described, Ayanami. We must also look for a big white cocoon, about this size," She mimed the size of an object about the size of a basketball," made of white fibers, maybe encrusted with dirt and debris to hide it. They usually put them in high corners. A colony this size would be expanding its territory."

Everybody nodded, readying their weapons.

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3  
GeoFront, NERV HQ, Brig  
**_ _ **Same Time**_

"Get up, idiot. The commander wants to see you." The jailguard growled, opening Shinji´s cell.

"Bad luck, I don´t want to see him." Shinji drawled with a petulant sneer, calculated to provoke the big man.

"Tough guy, uh? GET UP!" he roared.

The jailor pulled Shinji to his feet, pushing him out of the cell. "Hey! Careful, plug suits down´t grow in trees, you know?"

The young pilot had a very good idea of what the true purpose of the visit was, and he chose to go along with it. The commander wanted to measure his fighting capabilities outside the EVA. Therefore, the big caveman wannabe picking a fight with him. Shinji was willing to oblige.

The jailor wasted no time to punch Shinji in the stomach. A few weeks before (but several years for him, actually), that punch would have taken him by surprise, incapacitating him for a good while. Now, he saw it coming from a few miles away, and prepared his body. Still, he made a big show of folding down. He fell to his knees, gasping theatrically.

"Not so though now, uh? Move it." His big hands grabbed Shinji by the upper left arm, and pulled him up. In the time it took to stand, Shinji evaluated 13 different ways to incapacitate, maim, and/or kill the big guy, with his hands alone. But this was just a henchman. It would be better to misdirect the Commander.

Shinji stumbled in front of the jailor, colliding against the wall and sliding to the floor, still clutching his belly.

"I said MOVE IT!", and pushed Shinji in front of him, all the way to Commander Gendo Ikari´s Lair.

Shinji stumbled and fell to the floor, the jailor grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up roughly.

The pilot knew the type.

A plain, simple bully.

The kind who always, _always_ took any chance to feel powerful by humiliating or harming the weak. The Justicar knew them well. And as Jus´ apprentice, Shinji did too. This one? Low level. Easy to break with the right combination of force, cunning and ruthlessness.

But not now. For the time being, the bully was useful. Shinji needed to establish his position as one of weakness. If the Commander realized just how dangerous he was, he would try to either neutralize him, or control him. Neither option was acceptable to fulfill his own Scenario.

So, Shinji kept silence.

They would be justice later. Now, he needed to play his role, as an easily cowed, weak, harmless child.

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3, GeoFront  
NERV HQ; Commander Ikari´s Lair, Same Time**_

"Hmm…" Commander Ikari watched the scene without any visible emotion, his mouth hidden behind his gloved fingers, laced in what was known as the Gendo Pose by NERV´s staff, but always far from Commander Ikari´s earshot. "Disappointing performance. I expected at least a token resistance. It seems the Third Child is no fighter, despite what his record of lesions shows."

Behind him, Vice-Comander Kozo Fujutsuki mused. "Maybe his scars are a sympathetic echo of the Evangelion´s own scars?"

"Maybe." The Commander kept watching the screens, "I´ll get Akagi to correlate type and place of the lesions."

Fujutsuki sighed.

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3  
Abandoned Building, Across the Street from Rei Ayanami´s Former Apartment  
Ground Floor**_

Misato and Rusilka headed the loose formation. Each holding her own favorite weapon, Misato her trusty handgun, with a fresh clip; and Rusilka her sharp axe. Behind them, Asuka, a magic wand held tightly in her right hand, Vester clutched tightly in her left; and Rei, her hands holding the bow and arrow as if they were a part of her. Rei was intrigued by the easiness with which she held her new weapon, it was almost as if she had spent a lifetime hunting with arrows. Behind them, Limiry and Hikari, ready to support the fighters with healing or blessings. Kaji closed the formation, short sword in his left hand, gun in the right.

While Misato and Rusilka examined the shadowy entrance, Limiry and Hikari used their flashlights to sweep the ceiling, looking for cocoons. Kaji and Asuka covered the sides when they entered, walking sideways, ready to turn their weapons to the back, in case something tried to attack from behind.

Nothing in the first room…

Misato hand-signaled Kaji. He advanced to a closed door and tried the handle, it opened easily, revealing a second room. Misato covered Rusilka as the dwarf prepared an axe strike should something come out fighting.

Nothing.

A quick survey revealed a thick layer of dust, and nothing sticking to the ceiling.

Misato shook her head to the light switch, and Kaji tried it. As expected, it didn´t work.

* * *

The party repeated the process again and again, until they hit paydirt in a room at the second floor.

Inside, they found a cocoon, nestled at the corner of two walls and the ceiling. There were a few pidgeons and a cat wrapped in webbing below the mass of white strings.

Rusilka whispered. "The animals are still alive. I think the cocoon will mature soon, tomorrow at the earliest. We can´t allow it to open on its own. I reckon there must be around twenty spiders there."

Asuka nodded, and after sheathing Vester, she pulled the second wand from its holster. She whispered too, "Okay, everybody ready to kill any spider that tries to flee. I´m gonna burn them first and then put out the fire, Okay?"

Misato shook her head, holding her gun at the ready, her eyes scanning the room, alert for any sig of movement. "I think it would be better if you only freeze the cocoon in a solid block of ice. Less chance for any spider to try to run for it."

Asuka nodded again. She readied the Frost Wand, and spoke the literal magic word it had engraved at the handle. "Frizaris!" A beam of blue mist surged from the tip, quickly encasing the cocoon in a solid mass of ice. After a couple of seconds, the mass of ice was so heavy it fell from its place, crashing to the floor, and breaking into pieces.

Quickly, Rusilka went down to one knee, and examined the fragments, nodding satisfied. "All dead, _and_ broken. Just to be sure, I´ll break the biggest pieces." Immediately, she put axe to the work, smashing the bigger pieces to fragments no bigger than a pebble.

Kaji turned around, he had heard a skitering noise somewhere. "Hurry up. I think we have company!" He hissed. "Rei, break the windows, we need more light in here!"

The bluenette pulled the string of her bow, and the arrow she had at the ready flew true to its target, the corner of four glass panels, still whole, but covered by a thick layer of dust and grime. The arrow stroke right where the four supports held most of the weight of the windows.

A moment later, the whole structure fell down to the street, allowing the sunlight to enter the place.

Four spiders the size of a small dog reared on their hindmost pairs of legs, waving the front legs in a threatening display. Kaji and Misato shot their guns immediately, striking two spiders. The arachnids flew back, their heads blown to pieces by the bullets. Asuka got another, with a shot of her Frost Wand, while Rei pierced another with an arrow.

The whole fight lasted only a few seconds. Asuka stored her second wand back in the holster, and Vester was back in her hand. "Yes! That´s the way we do it on Oerth! But next time, wet my blade, girl! I´m not made to be a witness, but a participant!"

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Whatever…" Her hands were shaking a little. ´Adrenalin rush.´ she thought.

Once they were sure the attack had passed, Hikari proceeded to empty her stomach in a corner. While Limiry protected her. "Easy, traveler. Easy."

"I´m sorry…" she said miserably. "I was…"

"Yeah, I know, it happens to everybody. I can tell you a few stories." Limiry patted Hikari´s back, soothing her. "It happened to me; not nice, I can tell you. But look at the good side. We are all okay. Now, rinse your mouth, that aftertaste is something I wouldn´t want to linger on. I speak from experience." Hikari took the water bottle from Limiry´s hands, nodding her thanks. She did as instructed and spat the water on the same corner.

Asuka kept on watching around, and got closer to her friend. "Are you okay, Hikari?"

The freckled girl nodded. "I´m better now. It was…"

Misato signaled Kaji, "Lets keep moving, I´d like to get out of here with daylight." She half turned to Hikari, "Can you go on?"

The teen nodded. "Yes. I never had to be in a fight, except in school… And that was a while ago. I can go on."

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3  
GeoFront, Evangelion Cages  
**_ _ **Same Time.**_

"Maya! Cut all energy flow! _**NOW**_!"

"Cutting connections now! At the speed it´s using energy, the reserve will deplete itself in 7 more seconds!"

"Aoba! Release the Bakelite!"

"There´s a blocked valve in the second nozzle! I´m compensating with the other five!" HE grabbed a microphine, pressing a button and shouting on it. "Maintenance! Clear that valve now! I don't care if you have to use an axe, blow that valve now!"

Down in the Evangelion cages, Unit-01 roared, trying to demolish a wall with its bare hands. The protective layer had been removed to ease maintenance of the organic components of the purple Evangelion.

Exactly in the seventh second, EVA-01 lost the last of its energy reserve. The right hand of the monstrous creature struck a last, weak, punch onto the wall. its legs were already encased by the red liquid, that began to solidify almost instantly.

At the other side of the wall, Unit-02 rested in its cradle, patiently awaiting for the next battle, completely oblivious to the events in the next cage, dreaming her joyous reunion with her daughter, to live/die together.

* * *

Inside the now inert Unit-01, WYui Ikari wept bitter tears.

* * *

 _ **Author Notes:**_

(1) Demons (also known as Tanar´ri) are Chaotic Evil, Devils (Baatezu) are Lawful Evil. Incidentally, Morag the Marilith, ally of the Justicar and Escalla, is a Demon. Mariliths are serpentine creatures from the waist down. From the waist up, they look like six armed women. They can wield a weapon with each hand. Though Morag is quite an anomaly among them. She down´t really like to fight (though she can) and prefers to read and write poetry to being actively evil. Morag debuted in the third novel of the series, _Queen of the Demonweb Pits_.

(2) The Prime Material Plane. However, there are many Prime Material Planes. In D&D, almost every campaign setting is part of a Prime Material Plane. Except for _Spelljammer_ and _Planescape_ , every setting is located in a different PMP.

(3) During her first dungeon crawl with the Justicar and Polk, back in the _White Plume Mountain_ novel, Escalla spelled a few stones with _Permanent Light_ spells, tying the stones to cords so the group could have their hands free. It became standard operative procedure for the group. Asuka is not at that level, so the magic with dispel by itself when the spell duration (10 minutes/level) expires. Not much time, but ten minutes of battery saving can be the difference between life and death in a dungeon crawl.


	19. The Course is Set - No Deviations

_**Tokyo-3 Arcana**_

* * *

 _ **Please Read and Review.**_ I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it).  
The Author Notes are numbered in the text, if you are fluent in D&D/Pathfinder Lore, you probably won't need most of the notes.

* * *

 _ **The Course is Set. No Deviations.**_

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3  
GeoFront, Evangelion Cages  
28 minutes after Unit-01's Spontaneous Activation**_

"Maya, prepare a brief for the Commander. I need to supervise the removal of EVA-01." Dr. Akagi sighed, leaning back in her chair. "I don't know how the damned thing could have activated by itself, but unless we can control it, we will have to either reactivate Unit-03 or reconfigure Unit-00 for Shinji or Asuka, whomever has the highest synch rate when the check is done."

"At once, Dr. Akagi." Maya's fingers danced on her keyboard, registering orders and shuffling the scheduled work.

"And get me a couple of aspirins, will you?" Akagi shook her head, slowly, to keep her growing headache under control, "I would prefer to get something stronger, but I need to stay sharp." She should be resting at home, she had received a couple of bumps on her head when the 13th Angel escaped from Matsushiro. But when Commander Ikari got an idea in his head, there was no human power that could dissuade him from his course.

Dr. Akagi sighed. She wasn't looking forward to checking Unit-03 to determine if it was still a viable Evangelion or not. The preliminary reports from the recovery crew were encouraging, the damages were relatively minor, but she wouldn't trust the damned thing until she was completely satisfied that monster was really purged from its system.

She shuddered, remembering that awful roar that haunted her nightmares followed by an actinic light that hurt the eyes and the brain at the same time. More than once she had woken from a fitful sleep, soaked in cold sweat and with a lump in her throat that cut short any attempt to scream.

Maya looked at her for a moment. Anything capable of scaring her mentor was scary enough. She also shuddered. But the source of her discomfort was very different. An image flashed before her mind's eye. Unit-01 ripping the contaminated core from Unit… no, not Unit-03, from the 13th Angel's body. Shinji had never been comfortable with violence of any kind, yet now he had casually fought with a level of… not glee… no, viciousness? No. Efficiency. That was it. Efficiency. Shinji had fought with such a focus it scared her to think the mild-mannered boy who wouldn't hurt a fly could be capable of such pragmatism.

On his console, Lt. Makoto Hyuga also remembered that battle, but unlike Maya, he was actually envious of the combat prowess Shinji had shown. He touched the small adhesive band under his eye. That big guy had blindsided him with such speed and force he had actually feared for his life. Maybe he should ask Shinji to teach him?

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3  
Abandoned Building, Across the Street from Rei Ayanami's Former Apartment  
Third Floor  
Same Time**_

"Well… We have combed every room in this heap of garbage. No more spiders nor cocoons. I need a shower…" Asuka wiped her forehead with a handkerchief. "Right now."

Misato looked at Rusilka. "What do you say? Are we done here?" Her eyes kept probing the room, wary of any spider that could have escaped their hunt.

The dwarven female rubbed her chin with her left hand. "I think so. It seems we got here in time. Except for that poor devil in the ground floor. We should bury him, he deserves at least a modicum of respect."

Misato nodded. "He does, however, there are some very strict laws about the way any corpse is to be treated around here, it would be better if there's an anonymous tip to the authorities; they will take care of the body, and maybe notify his family." A sudden thought assaulted her. "Hey, I have an idea." Everybody looked at her, though Rusilka listened to her with only one ear. The other was alert for any skittering sounds.

The Major swept the room with a gesture of her hand. "The dead spiders disappeared as soon as they were dead, right? And later, their webs did the same. Let's check on our dead friend. If the corpse is free of webs, I think it would be a safe bet that we have cleared the nest, and there won't be any weird matter for the authorities to puzzle over. We left no fingerprints anywhere. Right?" She raised her gloved hands, everybody nodded, though both Rusilka and Limiry had needed a short explanation about fingerprints. "Kaji, your gun is registered? The casings could be a problem."

"No, I got this one through black channels; I'll get rid of it in a discreet place. No one will ever find it. Still, let's collect the casings, just in case; and I think your gun is registered." Misato nodded, "Rei, can you recover your arrows?"

"No need for it, Inspector Kaji. They vanish after impact." The bluenette seemed a bit miffed at that. "I have the suspicion they will be reappearing in the quiver later on."

Rusilka slapped Rei's shoulder, "Magic arrows, girl! Young Ikari must have spent a lot of time and effort gathering these weapons."

Vester piped in, his arrogant voice full of pride, "Ha! He also found some of the best loot on Oerth, I am the talking proof of that, as you obviously know!"

Asuka facepalmed, "Shut up, you idiot; you're embarrassing me!"

Misato, Kaji, and Rei exchanged a very telling look. Their eyes all said the same thing, _'Birds of a feather…'_

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3  
**_ _ **GeoFront, Commander Ikari's Office  
**_ _ **Same Time**_

The jailer pushed Shinji into Commander Ikari's office, the young pilot stumbled and fell to the floor. Having three sets of handcuffs on his wrists didn't help him to maintain his balance.

At least that was what the jailer, Commander Ikari and Vice-Commander Fujutsuki saw.

Shinji could have stopped his fall in several ways, (and been in position to counterattack with varying degrees of lethality) but focused instead on stumbling and falling in a convincing way, and avoiding any injury beyond a bit of scrapped skin, but the polished floor of the lair wouldn't cause even that.

Silently, he thanked Escalla once again. The faerie princess was a very accomplished actress, able to convince practically anybody she was clumsy, hurt, maimed, blind, drunk, unable to fly, unconscious, dead, or dumb. The only person in the whole of Oerth Escalla was utterly unable to deceive was the Justicar. Everybody else fell into her tricks.

And she had taught him the same tricks.

Well... except for shape-shifting. Shinji was singularly bad at changing shape (1).

"Third Child. What do you have to say in your favor?" The Commander's voice echoed in the cavernous space he called his office.

Shinji was a bit distracted to answer immediately, he was busy appreciating the décor. _'Oh, of course. This room looks just like the lair of a pretentious lich (2). Granted, it's missing the skeleton guards and the smell of decay of the zombie slaves, but the rest is spot on. Including the pseudomystic runic engraving. And the red light makes it_ so _cosy. Jus would love to wreck it. Polk would have a field day copying the engravings, and adding some badgers gnawing the roots. Hmm… I bet Enid could extend her wings fully in here, supposing she could even enter through that door._ '

Shinji licked his lips, while he managed to stand back up. Not very dignified, the handcuffs were intended to restrict his movements, after all. And they did. But to a much lesser grade than Gendo supposed. Nine Hells! If needed, he could use the handcuffs as improvised weapons to deadly effect.

"Answer, Third Child." The Commander's voice brought the pilot back from his thoughts.

"Wha..?" Shini looked around, carefully avoiding the Commander's face. "Oh, that? What did you want? For us to be beaten one by one? If you don't want your orders disobeyed, don't give stupid orders. Leave the combat strategy to Misato, thank you very much; she actually _knows_ what to do."

At a minute nod from the Commander, the jailer punched Shinji close to his left kidney. The kid swallowed a scream. He only gritted his teeth and glared at Commander Ikari.

From behind laced fingers, Gendo drawled, "Do not disobey my orders again, Third. A longer stint in the brig would be the lesser of your problems, is that understood?"

Through clenched teeth, Shinji answered, "…Yes…" he knew what Gendo would say next. It was perfectly obvious.

Just as expected, Commander Ikari leaned forward a couple of inches, still keeping his hands laced in front of his face, hiding his eyes behind his orange tinted shades. "Yes, _what_?"

"Yes… …sir." Shinji gasped through clenched teeth, his head held low.

Satisfied, Gendo smiled behind his hands. "Take him back to his cell."

The jailer saluted, "Yes, sir." Roughly, he picked up Shinji by the arm and pulled him out of the office, almost making him fall down again.

Once away from the lair, Shinji allowed himself a very small, controlled smirk. ' _Everything goes according to plan_.' He thought, wincing a bit, that damned punch had hurt! _'And you, my dear jailer friend, are in for a bit of justice later. Once it can't interfere with my other plans.'_

* * *

 _ **Space, High Orbit  
Over Madagascar.  
Same Time**_

A mass of dark dots coalesced in high orbit. Inside it, the 14th Angel appeared. Zeruel studied the planet below, looking for the origin of the signal calling it to its creator. Once it was located, it would teleport to a close location, and proceed to its destination. Porting too close to the origin of the signal would scramble it for too long a time.

Unlike his predecessor, Sahaquiel, Zeruel wasn't a kinetic bomb. It was equivalent to a combination of tank and a tool of destruction Mankind didn't have a name for.

It was the 14th Angel; Zeruel, the Angel of Might.

Able to resist and deliver incredible amounts of damage. Even for Angelic standards, Zeruel was ridiculously resistant to damage. Its AT Field was practically impervious to any damage. And even if an enemy managed the improbable feat of getting through the ATF, Zeruel's body was practically indestructible. A double shield could provide extra protection for its core.

Its ranged attacks were also ludicrously powerful. The monomolecular folding weapons at its sides had a very long range, and were able to cut through anything humans had ever created, they were able to cut a mountain into thin slices. The only thing that could conceivably stop them, was Zeruel's own AT Field, or one of similar power. Zeruel's energy blasts were almost as powerful as Ramiel's, though much less versatile, and the energy dissipated over a much shorter distance.

* * *

 _ **Matsuhiro Secondary NERV Base Ruins.  
**_ _ **Sublevel 26, 500 meters away from the 13th Angel Crater.**_

Laveth lay down on a hard mattress. Finally, her headache had begun to recede. She sat up with a single, graceful movement. Her small army of spiders awaited her orders with the patience of a hunter. Tentatively, Laveth stood up, ready to sit down in case her head decided to burst in pain again.

"You." She pointed at a grouping of small spiders, all completely black, except for two red marks over their abdominal sections. They were close to the size of Laveth's thumb. Obediently, the spiders skittered towards Laveth. They stopped next to the drow's left foot, and waited. Laveth orders would be obeyed without doubt nor hesitation. "You will explore behind that door. Find what's on the other way. See if it is safe for me to go through. If it isn't, come back and inform me."

Immediately, the spiders departed to follow her orders. One by one, they wriggled their small bodies into the door, moving through the minute cracks. And disappearing behind the steel.

Laveth glared at the big sigil painted over the door. "Soon, NERV, soon all your power will be mine. I'll rip your secrets from your mind and eat your flesh. I'll drape your skin over my throne, and your skull will top my scepter. So swears Laveth!"

She sat on the strange rolling chair she had claimed, and put her feet over a rolled up mattress.

While she waited for the return of her scouting spiders, Laveth opened a ration package and began to eat.

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3  
Alley Behind New Star Mall  
**_ _ **Same Time**_

Grurruk grunted. He had robbed several humies in the last few days, and the earning were indeed slim. He had no idea how come these weakling humies could wear such fine and delicate clothes and hardly carry any coins on them!

It was as if they were poor or something. Not a single gold piece, hell and damnation! Not even silver coins! There were a few copper pieces, minted with strange designs Grurruk had never seen before. But most of their coins were made of a strange metal.

It had taken a few attempts, but finally Grurruk thought he had enough to pay for a meal and a bed at some inn. He had been on the lookout for one at the docks, but the place was eerily clean, full of noisy machines with sizes that were unconceivable to the half-orc. And not a single grimy inn on sight.

He had stolen some food from street vendors carts, using his strength to avoid being captured, but he had learned to evade the brightly painted wagons roaming the streets. The lights hurt his eyes, and the constables inside tended to arrive in groups. He wasn't about to mess with them after they had called the lightning on him! (3)

He was looking around for a place to sleep, when he heard some high-pitched voices.

Goblins! He was in luck! If he could catch the leader of the gang, he would get his own little gang of minions. Gurruk hid behind a dumpster, and waited, listening carefully, waiting for the right moment to strike at the group.

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3  
GeoFront, Evangelion Cage 3  
**_ _ **Same Time**_

Unit-01 settled into the hardened bakelite.

Inside, Yui Ikari wiped metaphorical tears from her face. She had finally realized her tantrum had accomplished nothing at all, except endanger her mission.

Tentatively, she extended her mind to Cage 2, where Unit-02 stood, indifferent to the world. It had been moved to another cage, almost out of her communication range.

' _Kyoko?'_ she asked, projecting her thoughts _. 'Can you hear me_?'

Nothing. Barely a distant curiosity, but only for a moment.

' _She can't hear you.'_ A small voice answered instead. It was the voice of a small girl. _'I've tried to play some games with her, but she never listens.'_

' _Hello?'_ Yui greeted the voice _. 'Is that you, Rei?'_

'… _Do you know me? Are you my mommy? (4)'_

Yui kept silent for a long moment, she didn't know what to say.

' _Are you my mommy?'_ the voice came back again. Full of loneliness and pain. The girl seemed to be about to cry.

Yui took a decision _, 'Yes, Rei. I am…_ _I am_ _your mommy. I am sorry for not being here before.'_

' _Can we… can we play a game?'_ Rei asked, fearful and hopeful at the same time.

' _Yes, we can play. Let me think, I want to choose a very good game for us to play.'_

' _Okay… I can wait.'_ The relief in her voice was heartbreaking, Yui swore to herself she would find a way to rescue Rei's soul from her biomechanic prison. A prison she herself had helped to create. Along with a similar prison for Kyoko.

The guilt and regret weighted heavily on her soul.

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3  
**_ _ **GeoFront, Commander Ikari's Office  
**_ _ **Same Time**_

Commander Gendo Ikari brooded in silence, next to him, Vice-Commander Fujutsuki waited resignedly.

Finally, Ikari spoke, his face half hidden behind his hands. "It seems Yui's influence is limited to actual Evangelion fighting. The Third Child only carries some residual… _arrogance_ outside the EVA. No actual combat abilities translate to the outside world."

"Hmm… I think you are underestimating him."

"I don't think so. He had every opportunity to fight back, back at the brig, or in the way here. He talks big, but doesn't dare to stand for himself when it counts. Let him stew in the brig for two hours more. Then release him. Let him return to Katsuragi's apartment on his own."

Fujutsuki sighed. Once again, Gendo Ikari demonstrated he was too stubborn for his own good. That very same attitude was what had set him in his current course. And with only four Angels to come, trying to make him change course was a fool's errand.

* * *

 _ **Author Notes:**_

Escalla, being a faerie, is a shapeshifter, she is also quite the little actress.

A Lich is an undead magic user, kind of an intelligent zombie. They tend to carry on with their particular obsessions once they use a ritual to become undead. And they also tend to be egotists.

Grurruk the orc has experienced the joys of a TASER. He got a nice Saving Throw and managed to flee before being arrested. The Tokyo-3 Police Department has a couple of orders for his arrest, though they only know there is a big guy mugging people. Even if they see him clearly, they would be unable to see his true nature, due to the veil the Shadow put over regular people.

Yup, this is Rei I. I couldn't resist referencing Doctor Who. If you have seen the new series, you have probably seen _The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances_. The Empty Child is one of the creepiest creatures in the series, and "Are you my mummy?" is his recurrent question. It is at once creepy, pathetic, and heartbreaking.

* * *

 _To Shaymin (Guest):_

Thanks! It was a very easy dungeon crawl; a bug hunt, if you want. And the party was overequipped.

As you can see, Laveth is not aware of what happened in Tokyo-3, she has been in a bunker in the Matsuhiro secondary base, very far from Rei's old apartment. As she only has her arachnemancer abilities, the exploits of our heroes happened outside her range. And the spiders the party met came from Golarion, not Oerth, so she is not 'tuned' to them. I have different plans for our favorite evil spoiled princess, and she still has a lot to do before meeting Shinji and his friends.

The Spider Princess has only begun her career in Tokyo-3!

Toji isn't actually in a coma, just sleeping due to the _Sleep_ spell being overpowered. He already met a dream emissary, but being a bit slow on the uptake, they still have to talk things through.

Ah, and Laveth is wearing NERV clothes! So, not really valuable.


	20. You're Late to the Party, Boss

_**Tokyo-3 Arcana**_

* * *

 _ **Please Read and Review.**_ I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it).

* * *

 _ **You're Late to the Party, boss.**_

Once free of his cell, Shinji walked slowly to the GeoFront exit, deliberately slowing his pace. It would do him no good to show he wasn't as pained as he wanted to show. Five years ago, he might have been woefully prepared for the Justicar's training; in the physical aspect, he was relatively weak and clumsy, but his pain threshold was very high, thanks to the Evangelion sensorial interface. He would pretend to be hurting for the rest of the day, and the next day too, just in case he was observed outside Misato's apartment.

He boarded a bus, and sat carefully in one of the back seats, he didn't like to have anybody behind him. The Justicar's sense of self-preservation, also known as paranoia, had saved their lives more than once. Discreetly, Shinji looked around, disguising his movements as discomfort and residual pain. None of the other passengers gave him the vibe of being Section 2 agents. They had a very particular body language, that had revealed their presence before. Once he saw the bus was free of agents, he relaxed a bit.

Taking out his cell phone, Shinji speed-dialed the number to Misato's apartment. No one answered, the call went directly to the voicemail. He called Asuka, but was sent to voicemail too. Furrowing his brow, he dialed Rei, with similar results. _'What in the name of Cinders' tail is going on?'_ he thought.

He arrived to an empty apartment, with only the sound of the TV to show there was somebody at home. To his surprise, Tom was placidly sprawled over the couch, his emerald eyes watching an anime show on the TV. "Hey, kid. I think I have to get you up to date while your friends come back. I am officially out of the bag, you know."

Shinji facepalmed. "Of course you are. It's official, the gods do hate me." He sighed, "Very well, Tom, what's going on?"

* * *

The group returned home some time later, to find Shinji sitting on the couch, his left ankle resting over his right knee, his right hand loosely griping the armrest, and his left idly caressing Tom's head as if he was some kind of Bond villain, though his wrinkled school uniform spoiled the effect. Still, his features held a seriousness completely out of place in such a young face.

"Glad to see you are all alright. Now, we have a lot to talk about. First, I want to know exactly what happened while you were out. Every. Single. Detail. Where did you go, what did you find. Any wounds you suffered. Everything."

Misato would have laughed at his attitude, had she not seen personally the kind of things that now existed on the world.

* * *

 _ **Much later**_

Shinji stood straight in the center of the room, his head held high, his hands at his back, the left loosely clasped in the right. The skin of his arms showing a map of scars.

The image he cut contrasted sharply with how he was before the Twelfth Angel had arrived. The hesitation, the meekness, the shyness that overwhelmed him except in the heat of a desperate battle, all were gone. Replaced with a mind as fast and merciless as a bear trap, and determination enough to assault Hell's Doors.

And win.

He inhaled a controlled breath, and exhaled, looking at everybody present in turn. Misato and Kaji were the most surprised by the change. Hikari had already seen a very small glimpse of his new demeanor. Rei, simply accepted him without any reserves. Rusilka and Limiry didn't knew him from before the Twelfth Angel, but both recognized a warrior forged in battle. Asuka smiled widely at seeing him standing with the bearing of a warlord, or even… a king.

"Let me tell you a story." He said, his voice even. "Once upon a time, there was a little world called Earth. It was a world like many others, full of good and bad people; but mostly, of people who only wanted to live their lives at peace."

He began to pace around the room, almost like a caged panther. But a panther well aware it can get away anytime.

"But there was a secret cabal of old men, who wanted to be gods. Oh, they say they want to cleanse Humanity's sins, but they are willing to commit any sin in pursuit of that goal. Starting with murder at such a scale no one could have even thought it possible. These old men were willing, _are willing_ to kill the world to achieve that insane goal. And so far, they have succeeded. Second Impact was their first blow. The first big step in their plan. The point of no return." He paused, "That they have not gone into the apotheosis they desperately believe they deserve is due to the need to obtain the other half of the key to Instrumentality."

Both Misato and Kaji gasped.

"I see you've heard about it."

"Yeah, I've been investigating it for a long time. Still no closer to the answer." Kaji closed his fists. Even after all these years, it hurt.

Shinji turned around to face Kaji, his face was a mask of stress. "I need you to promise me you will stop. You are this close to being killed," he showed his right thumb and forefinger almost touching each other, "and achieving nothing before you're gone."

"But…" Kaji insisted.

"Promise. And I'll tell you what I do know. The truth behind Second Impact, the how and the why. _Even the who_. If what I will tell you fits with what you have found out… well… you won't need to keep digging, will you?"

Kaji looked into Shinji's eyes. After a few seconds of thinking harder than ever before, Kaji relented. "I promise. But I'll have to cut ties with… my bosses."

Shinji nodded gravely, "Maybe you shouldn't. Tell me who do you work for. Maybe we can incorporate them in our plans. Enemy of my enemy and all that. Keep in mind that I won't be trusting them blindly. First, we must get to the really important thing. Stop Third Impact from ever happening." His right fist slammed against his left palm.

Misato's brow furrowed, "Isn't that NERV's purpose? The EVA Project?"

"Not really, not in the end. The Angels could detonate Third Impact, that's true; but the old men who make the UN dance to their tune actually _want Third Impact to happen_ , in their terms, and _only_ in their terms. To that end, they founded first GEHIRN and then NERV. To develop the technology necessary to create the EVAs; to make sure their plans proceed as they want. By the Abyss, they even have a way to attract the Angels. Why do you think they come here, to Tokyo-3? And only after the city was built and functional? The other NERV sites are not so heavily defended. It's not by mere chance the Angels attack us here and now." He looked at Misato, knowing her strategic mind was running escenarios, trying to find a flaw in his reasoning. She exhaled a little growl of frustration. And Shinji continued.

"And to top it off, we pilots are the key to their plans. One of us must break down in the right moment," he looked at Asuka's eyes, "in the right way, for Instrumentality to happen. Everything NERV has done is geared towards that goal. We have been manipulated for years. Some of us, before even being born. By the Abyss, _one of us was born precisely for this_." He looked at Rei for a moment, before she nodded minutely; he nodded back at her. "I'll come back to that later. That's a whole another conversation, Rei. And I can assure you all, what I will reveal to all of you, and to each one of you, will hurt. I've had months to come to terms with my own part in this demented play, and it still frelling hurts." He tapped his chest with the fingers of his right hand.

"Months?" Misato asked. "When? How?"

Shinji waved a hand. "Later. I'll tell you everything; but for now, let's focus on the background info, okay?"

Misato nodded; her brow furrowed.

The male pilot turned to Rei. "I will need your promise too, Rei. And remember this. You are not a tool. You are so much more than a tool. You are NOT replaceable. Never were and never will. You are so much more than what Commander Ikari had molded you into. You are Rei Ayanami. You _are_. You are unique in this universe and any others. You are _you_. You are not alone. Never will you be alone again. I won't allow that fate to befell you."

Rei's scarlet eyes misted for a moment. Slowly, she stood up, and her hand touched Shinji's cheek. The same cheek she had slapped months before in a misguided show of loyalty to the only parental figure she had. "I am myself. I am free to choose. I realize that now. I choose. I promise."

Shinji took her hand in his, looking deeply into her crimson eyes, and nodded with a small smile on his lips. "We have to talk, just us, later. There are things that have to be said."

It was Rei's turn to nod. She turned her eyes to look at Asuka, fearing the redhead would be angry at her. She had seen the closeness between Ikari and Soryu. Inexplicably, the German-raised pilot smiled sweetly at her, and saluted her loosely, two fingers to the temple, a flick and a wink.

"Very well. Back to Instrumentality." Shinji continued, while Rei took her seat again, a strange expression on her face. Asuka patted Rei's shoulder, to steady her. Shinji shook his head, "I hate that very word. It is nothing but a melding of souls into a hive mind. And the old men want to be the awareness of that gestalt. Powerful. Eternal. Unopposed."

"And who are they, Shinji?" Misato asked.

"They call themselves SEELE. Our bosses, hiding behind a façade of altruism. The men who have betrayed us all, and who plan to betray us to the 999 Layers of Hell and beyond."

Limiry raised a hand. "Uh, Need some background here, boss."

Shinji nodded. "I'll get to that, Limiry." He squared his shoulders, "Commander Ikari is in league with them, up to a certain point, as he plans on betraying them in turn, but for his own, selfish reasons."

He looked at Rei, the bluenette nodded again. "True. Commander Ikari has his own plans, I am the key to them."

Had a bomb fallen in the room, the effect wouldn't have been greater. Everybody, except for Shinji, turned to look at the First Child with bulging eyes.

* * *

"Second Impact was no accident. It was deliberate. The Katsuragi Expedition was the sacrifice SEELE needed to jump-start their apotheosis." Misato's hand almost crushed Kaji's. She was so angry she had no words to express it. Her eyes unfocused, lost in her worst memory. Shinji knelt before her, grabbing her shoulders with gentle firmness. "Control yourself, Misato. Focus on me. Look at me. **Look at me!** " The sudden change in Shinji's voice brought her back. She shook her head and gasped. Her lips trembled and her eyes misted. Shinji pulled her into an embrace "Shh… shh…" for a couple of minutes, he combed her hair with his fingers, before pushing her away to look at her eyes. "I am here, Misato. Control yourself, come back to us, please. In the name of your family, for justice. For revenge. Come back to us!"

"Shinji, what's happening?" Kaji asked, alarmed. With a shuddering gasp, Misato's eyes focused back into her ward. She nodded twice, a spark of anger smoldering in her eyes. A guttural growl emerged from her throat. She shook her head, exhaled a long breath.

The Third Child sighed in relief when Misato turned her head to look at Kaji. "She was close to regressing. She spent two years as a catatonic patient."

Kaji held her hand, unsure of what to do. "Will she…"

"I doubt it. She is so much stronger now. Aren't you, Misato?"

She turned to look at him again. Her hands opening and closing into fists. An eerie imitation of his own tic. She raised a hand to cover part of her face, as if it physically hurt. "I never thought I would feel this way… so much anger… I feel like I'm going to burn!"

Shinji took her trembling hands, speaking gently. "They will be the ones to burn, Misato. But I'm going to need that wonderfully twisted mind of yours to light the fire. You'll have justice. Asuka, Kaji, Rei, myself. Hikari, Toji and Kensuke too, although you do not know how they have been wronged. We have all been betrayed by SEELE, manipulated to do their bidding." He stood up to his full height, "Well… I say **No More**. They have a date with justice. They have been judged in absence." He didn't had to say that SEELE had been already sentenced.

He looked at Limiry and Rusilka. "This is not your fight. And yet it is. I don't know how or why you came to this world, along with the creatures you fought. I don't know if Third Impact would harm you or not. But even if it doesn't harm you, it would kill this world, and you after that."

Rusilka laughed bitterly, "I have no family anymore. I can barely remember them since I arrived at your city. Yet my honor is whole and untarnished. I would dishonor my clan if I left you to fight this alone. My arm rises along yours, and my axe shall strike for your family." She pulled her axe from its scabbard, and used the edge to cut one of her braids. She put it in Shinji's hands. "Burn it tonight, when the sun has set. Keep the ring, and use it in your own hair once it is long enough. You will be my battle leader."

Shinji opened and closed his mouth silently. He knelt before Rusilka, his head down. "You do me great honor."

"You have given me a good cause. Honorable. I will walk your path in honor." The dwarven warrior slid her axe back into its scabbard. "To the very end."

Limiry stood up. "My people need change and variety to live. I am the only traveler here. And by Desna's grace, I will walk your path to the end. She will guide us all. How could we do otherwise but triumph?" She smiled beatifically.

Hikari stood next to her tutor. "Desna chose me for a reason, Shinji, I will do what I can to help."

"Thank you. I cannot do this alone." He sat down on the floor. "You did well today, but clearing a nest of spiders is relatively easy. I doubt spiders will be the least of our troubles. I think we must learn to fight together."

He looked at Asuka, "You and I will step up your training as a Wizardress, combat spells could mean the difference between fighting another day or witnessing Third Impact. We must be ready. I need you to be able to cast in a fight. Time to take the gloves off."

An eager smile crossed Asuka's lips. "I was waiting for that, baka. I can't wait to learn how to blow stuff with magic!"

Shinji smiled back at her. "I have a few ideas about the spells we could use from an EVA, spells that could be hidden in our regular attacks."

Rei raised a hand. "Do I have that same capacity?"

Shinji sighed and shook his head. "I don't know, Rei. I need to cast a spell at you to know, but it only works when the subject is sleeping."

"Wait, you cast a spell on me when I was sleeping?" Asuka punched him on the arm. Hard.


	21. We Don t Know What You Did Last Summer

_**Tokyo-3 Arcana**_

* * *

 _ **Please Read and Review.**_ I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it).  
The Author Notes are numbered in the text, in this chapter, they are particular to the Justicar and Escalla novels.

* * *

 _ **We Don´t Know What You Did Last Summer (Or Five…).**_

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3, Katsuragi-Ikari-Soryu Apartment**_

"Uh, Shinji, you said you´ve known about Instrumentality for months. How is that even possible?" Misato asked, her anger now under her control. Her hands still shook, but less and less by the second.

Shinji held her hands for a couple of seconds more, and realized she would recover completely. He exhaled in relief, Misato had been the first person in his life to look at him and seeing another person, not a burden, nor a tool, nor a scientific experiment.

Just for that, he would fight for her to the best of his capabilities. He would even discard his facade if necessary.

He released her hands carefully, making sure she felt he wouldn't abandon her.

Shinji stood again, and Tom jumped to his arms, demanding attention. Shinji scratched behind the mechanical cat´s ears, making him purr. "That's a long tale, best told over a fire on the woods. But I think we can do it here. It's been a long day, and our bodies need sustenance. Asuka, Rei," the two female pilots pilots perked up, "will you help me prepare a feast?"

"Yes." Rei answered, standing up. Next to her, Asuka stood up a moment later, she smoothed her skirt, and then looked at her hands in slight disgust. "Yeah, but I will need to change first, wandering around in a spider nest, not good for clothes. Wonder Girl, you too. I'll loan you one of my dresses, come with me." Vester´s voice let itself be heard, as the pair entered Asuka´s room, _"I am certainly NOT cutting nor peeling food! I am the weapon of champions, and I have my dignity…"_ Asuka slid closed her door with more force than strictly needed, cutting off the rest of the blade´s tirade.

Shinji smiled at her departure, but kept silent. Tom still purring. "I'll return soon. I want to get some things you can't get around here." He went to his own room, leaving the door open.

Until the food was ready, he would refuse any attempt to get the story out of him.

About five minutes later, the two female pilots emerged from what had once, long ago, been his room. Seeing them, he couldn´t contain his smile. Asuka wore an orange sundress, almost identical to the one she had lost during the Eight Angel´s attack, almost a lifetime ago. And Rei was wearing a light blue dress that complimented her skin and hair. It was a very flattering look for his sister. "You two look great." He said.

Asuka grinned self-importantly, while Rei´s cheeks tinged with a very small blush.

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3  
**_ _ **Alley behind New Star Mall**_

It had only taken one try. To be honest, Grurruk had thought it would be more difficult to get the goblins to obey him. But once they saw him shrug away their clubs, and take the dogslicer off the hands of their leader (along with most of his left hand, by the way), the small tribe of goblins folded to his leadership.

First order of the day, get food. Second order, find a good place to sleep.

The goblins began to argue about exactly whom should be doing what, until the orc cut off any discussion by the simple expedient of stomping on the body of the ex-leader, crushing most of his torso to a bloody pulp, pointing at each goblin, and assigning them a task to do.

Close to five minutes later, long after Grurruk and his new and problematic gang of unruly goblins had departed, the body of the unfortunate goblin chief evaporated among wisps of smoke and dust.

Soon, there would be nothing to mark the passing of the goblin.

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3  
Main Sewage Treatment Plant**_

The giant amoeba that had been prowling around in the sewers, feeding on the varied detritus of modern city life finally found what could be considered paradise. A big tank of steel and stone, where the waste water was collected, and began to be separated from the contaminants it carried. Excrement and biological waste was filtered, while other debris was separated by automatic filters and moved up, where it was further separated by size, and eventually checked by remote sensors, in case something interesting or dangerous appeared.

The giant amoeba checked both boxes, but as it was independently mobile, it managed to stay clear from the scoop system, and happily stayed down. Soon, it would divide in two, resulting in two giant amoebas.

And far less work for the recycling systems.

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3  
Katsuragi-Ikari-Soryu Apartment**_

A few minutes later, the trio had begun to cut and mix ingredients for several dishes, Asuka and Rei followed Shinji´s directions to the letter. Said ingredients included several spices and vegetables not native from Earth.

For some reason, Shinji had put some foul smelling leaves into tea strainer, as if preparing a cup of tea. He left the water to boil for some time, then took the little pot on the kitchen counter and covered it with a plate, leaving it to cool down. Later, he would put it to heat again.

Misato opened the balcony. Shinji smiled to himself.

Half an hour later, Shinji served the first dish, a thick, rich vegetable soup. Misato and Hikari tried it carefully at first, but soon began to spoon it into their mouths as if they were starving. Rusilka tasted hers, and added a pinch of dry leaves from a small plate Shinji had left in the middle of the table.

"Needs just a bit more of scadpree." She said, apologetically.

Shinji nodded. "Noted, next time I´ll add a pinch more."

Rusilka looked around and explained, "Dwarven soup. My mother used to cook it for us when… Wait, …I can remember that!" Her eyes lit up at the memory.

Limiri´s eyes followed immediately. "Maybe your memories are coming back!" Closing her eyes, she joined her hands in silent prayer, and Hikari followed the example of her mentor.

Shinji put the pot on the center of the table, over a round piece of wood to protect the tablecloth. "I hope that's the case. I would like if you and Rusilka wrote down what you can and cannot remember. That way we can compare your memories now and later. Hopefully you will remember more and more things and details."

When the bowls were empty, Shinji served a salad. It was a simple Japanese recipe, very much appreciated by Rei, Limiry and Misato. Once that was finished, two main dishes. A vegetable roast for Rei and Limiry, and fish for everybody else. Both dishes were generously bathed in a thick, creamy sauce.

While everybody ate, Shinji began his tale, pausing only to put a piece of food in his mouth, and chew carefully. "Asuka knows part of this, so I ask for patience with the parts you already know."

The red-headed pilot nodded, saying, "Go ahead, Sensei. This dish is delicious! So I won't argue with you." She stressed he point by looking at a piece of fish, before popping it in her mouth.

Shinji leaned back on his chair, and began his tale, "For me, it begins with the Twelfth Angel, the one which was a shadow."

Asuka swallowed, and tapped her right index on the table, she looked at Rusilka, Limiry and Hikari. "That one was a dimensional anomaly. It looked like a black shadow, but it was almost like a hole on the ground, several buildings fell into it, along with several dozens of cars, bikes, and assorted stuff. But the Gott-damned thing was thinner than a…" She searched for a comparison their guests could understand, and came up with none, "thinner than a cat´s hair. Way thinner than that."

"The Angel not only was a dimensional anomaly, it was a whole dimension by itself. Inside it, I couldn't see an end to it, just white space in every direction, EVA-01´s senses and instruments didn't have a way to measure the limits of it. Though I could locate several of the things the Angel had absorbed." Shinji continued, "But the really important this is that the Twelfth Angel was a dimensional door."

Kaji was the first one to connect the dots, "It sent you to another world!"

"Right on the first try, Kaji. It is a very different world from this one."

Now it was Tom who spoke. "Oerth. One of the many worlds that exists in the multiverse."

Shinji scratched behind Tom´s ears. "Yup. One of many. From what I can deduce from what Rusilka and Limiry have told me, and some of the events since my return, Oerth is more alike to their world than to Earth. It is a world from some fantasy novel, with magic, gods, dragons and strange creatures." Both dimensional exiles nodded their agreement.

"When I was inside the Angel, Unit-01´s systems went off one by one. Life support was the last. I was breathing LCL more and more dirty each minute, and the cold was getting worse too. I was sure I would die there, alone and forgotten…" Shinji closed his eyes, and trembled.

Misato and Asuka held his hands at the same time, Rei followed them a moment later, she would later realize that her hand had covered Asuka´s, but the redheaded pilot hadn´t reacted negatively to the contact.

Shinji opened his eyes, and smiled at them. He squeezed their hands back. Misato wondered at the rough callouses on his fingers and palm, but didn't say anything.

"I am not sure what happened, but I woke up later, on the floor of a forest. That was the luckiest day of my life. I had been found by an adventuring party. Heroes all." He smiled sadly. "I found a family and a place I could really belong."

The Third Child stood up, extracted a roll of parchment from an ivory case and unfurled it. He held it open to show a group portrait. Down center, Shinji himself, dressed with leather armor, and smiling widely. To his right, a gangly blonde teenager, holding a crossbow, also dressed with leather armor. To Shinji´s left, for some reason, a badger dressed with a shirt made to its size, holding a big hat with a feather in its claws. Behind Shinji, to his right, a small blonde woman, who seemed to be about two feet high, with transparent insectile wings, she wore an outrageously small dress, that left nothing to the imagination. Kaji whistled in appreciation of her beauty, only to receive Misato´s elbow to the ribs. "Behave, you old dog!" She hissed.

Behind Shinji, the diminutive woman held the hand of the big man standing at Shinji´s left. There was a stern expression on his squarish face. He seemed to be almost grunting, but there was a spark of savage cunning in his eyes. He wore black armor, seemingly made of the scales of an incredibly big reptile. On his helmet rested the head of a black dog, somehow leaking smoke from its nostrils, smiling like a piranha, the rest of the pelt hung like a cloak over his broad shoulders, the front paws tied in a knot over his chest. For some reason, he held up the handle of a luminous sword with a wolf head pommel; showing it clearly, as if presenting tit for inspection, but pointing downwards.

Finally, behind and above the group, the face of an enormous young woman, with freckles over her nose, her hair braided with a thousand beads. She wore a headdress that looked Egyptian. Two enormous wings apparently coming from the woman´s back framed the group

Shinji held a crystal ball in his hands, almost the size of a bowling ball, and another person could be seen in the reflection. A painter´s easel could be seen, and behind it, a woman with short, dark hair, and six arms peered at the side of the easel, obviously drawing the group, her serpentine tail wrapped around the stump of a tree. (1).

The pilot pointed at each figure in the drawing. "These are my friends, Henry the Fighter." He pointed at the young man with the crossbow, "just the guy you´d want next to you in a fight." He then pointed at the extravagantly dressed badger. "Polk the teamster, he died and was reincarnated into an animal body; but that was before I met them, so I only knew him as the badger. He loves his drinks, and he chronicled our adventures in his unique style. Maybe later I will show you a copy of the journal he wrote our first meeting in."

"Here, reflected in the crystal ball, Morag, the Marilith. A renegade demon who was our magic advisor, and our lawyer. Never mess with an ex-secretary with poetic tastes and a bit of OCD." He shook his head. "She got hitched to a really nice incubus, but I never even met him. She´s very jealous of their privacy. Last I heard, they were about to publish a book on poetry, can you believe it? (2)"

Then he pointed at the brown-haired woman at the back. "Enid, the Sphinx. You won't ever find a sweeter girl. She loves riddles and books. She is engaged to Henry, they have to take some potions to change shape, but they make it work. They were planning their wedding when I came back…" Asuka noticed then the big paw resting on Henry´s shoulder. (3)

Shinji´s voice cracked, but he recovered almost immediately. He tapped at the sword, "This is Benelux, a sword forged at yet another dimension; she's very proper, proud, and demanding in questions of etiquette. I learned much of how to behave from her." Asuka rolled her eyes, "Say… like Vester?"

"Yup, but Vester was made in Oerth." Shinji continued, now pointing at the black dog pelt, he smiled again, as if remembering an old prank. "Cinders, the pelt of a hellhound with his soul still attached to the skin. Despite coming from a very literal Hellish place, he is just a big, friendly dog. He can also breath flames and is a bit of a pyromaniac, but very fun to be around if you're not worried about fire." Asuka shot Shinji a very significant look, Shinji nodded.

"Now, these two are my mentors, I learned the most from them. They actually adopted me as a member of their family. My full name is… you're gonna laugh… Shinji Ikari Brightflower, adopted son of the Nightshade Clan (4)." He paused until the expected laughs receded. "Yeah, I know, I sound like a faerie. But that's because it is true! Plus, technically I am a faerie prince, but I´m outside the succession line."

He tapped at the small woman. "Princess Escalla Brightflower, or just Escalla. She's the best trickster and con artist you could find. She's able to sell holy water to a demon and get him to toast with it. I'm not just saying it. I saw her do it! The poor demon had a nasty case of being dead afterwards. Shouldn´t have been running a slave ring… (5)"

He chuckled. "Oh, the things she taught me! Mostly magic, once we realized I had the gift as a Sorcerer." He smiled again, his grin was disturbingly similar to Cinders´.

"And last, but never least, the Justicar. He taught me combat, ethics, swordsmanship, stealth. But most importantly, he taught me how to think. He is more of a father to me than the Commander. And I am proud to be his adopted son."

Carefully, Shinji rolled up the parchment, and put it back into an ebony scroll holder that he closed carefully.

"We had many adventures, we brought justice to many places, saved many people, and rid Oerth of many villains and monsters. I stayed with them for five years."

"Wait, wait, wait." Kaji waved his arms around. "Five years? How is that even possible? You were missing for less than a day, Shinji! And even if you had stayed there for that long, how come you are not older?"

Shinji tilted his head at Tom, the mechanical cat sat up on the table, waving a paw didactically, "rhere are several possibilities, maybe time runs differently in other dimensions. That, or the two dimensions were out of synch. Or maybe Shinji traveled back in time. Truth is, though it really irks me, I don´t know. In any case, Shinji´s time on Oerth was to be exactly five local years. After that, both he and his golem, Unit-01 as you call it, would simply return to their place of origin."

"So, did you find the actual Fountain of Youth, or something?" Misato asked.

Asuka laughed. "That's what I asked when he told me!" She turned to Shinji, a predatory look in her eyes, "and you still haven't told me!" She punched him on the arm again. It was like punching a wall. She rubbed her knuckles for a moment.

"Well… have you ever read faerie tales? What happens when a mortal dances the night away with the faeries?"

It was Hikari who answered, "They return home years later and everybody has forgo…" she stopped mid-word. "You mean… That happened to you?"

"Not exactly, turns out that being constantly around a faerie stops the aging process completely." Shinji smiled jovially. "Very useful when you are in an unending fight for justice. I would really like to see my family again, and knowing that Escalla is practically immortal, and everybody else is too for as long as they keep near her, gives me hope. But now that I am back here, I have a job to do. To stop Third Impact, and be a force for justice, just as the Justicar taught me."

He stood up, and poured himself some of the awfully smelling water in a cup. He drank a bit, to Misato´s amazement. "What the hell are you drinking!? That stuff stinks to high heaven!"

Shinji smiled. "This? It´s just some tea from Oerth, Jus´ recipe. Apart from him, I seem to be the only one with a taste for it." He sipped another drink.

* * *

 _ **Matsuhiro Secondary NERV Base Ruins  
**_ _ **Sublevel 26, 500 meters away from the 13th Angel Crater.**_

Laveth waited patiently for her spiders to return. The small group was mapping the tunnel behind the heavy metallic door, leaving behind a tangle of silk, so they could return to NERV´s lair. In her mind, Laveth worked on the mechanism of the door. Eventually she would have to go out.

Occasionally, she checked on the scout party´s progress. To her amazement, the tunnel had no secondary branches. Except for a single tunnel, too small for her to go through. This tunnel ran in parallel with the main one, so there would be no need at all to even enter there, though it could be useful to move more spiders with stealth. There were openings at regular intervals, something to keep in mind if she needed tp use the spiders to attack or defend.

So far, the scouts had not found nothing of interest. The tunnel rose at a constant angle, never going down, though it zigzagged through the stone, also at regular intervals.

This NERV was a maniac for regularity in his creations.

Anyway, Laveth kept on studying both the door and the tunnel. Hopefully, she would be able to get out of NERV´s lair soon, carrying his throne, his clothes, and his food as bounty.

* * *

 _ **Author Notes**_

1 The description of the party corresponds to the group after _Queen of the Demonweb Pits_.

2 According to her lines in that same novel, Morag is quite artistic. She is an accomplished painter, both landscapes and portraits. And she is working on a trilogy of novels, though the subject of her writing is not discussed.

3 The relationship between Enid and Henry begins during _Queen_ , but is barely at the beginning stages by the end of the book.

4 In _Descent to the Depths of the Earth_ , the party has to contend with faerie politics, Escalla´s life before meeting Jus and Cinders is shown. I thought it would be nice for the two adventures to adopt Shinji formally, once their marriage was recognized by her family. Though as both a human and a foreigner, Shinji wouldn't be considered as a possible heir. Especially as his stay on Oerth was limited to five years.

5 This event is my doing, In the three novels, Escalla pulls a lot of cons on unsuspecting, and even suspecting, victims. Though after she met Jus, she limited her cons to evil people. The most entertaining of these, IMO, happens in _Queen_ , when she is "captured" by a couple of gargoyles. Don't take my word for it, get the books or audiobooks, and check it out!


End file.
